"At Marfaux nineteen private houses were burned. Of the Commune of Glannes practically nothing remains. At Somme-Tourbe the entire village has been destroyed, with the exception of the Mairie, the church and two private buildings. At Auve nearly the whole town has been destroyed. At Etrepy sixty-three families out of seventy are homeless. At Huiron all of the houses, with the exception of five have been burned. At Sermaize-les-Bains only about forty houses out of 900 remain. At Bignicourt-sur-Saultz thirty houses out of thirty-three are in ruins. "At Suippes, the big market town which has been practically burned out, German soldiers carrying straw and cans of petrol have been seen in the streets. While the mayor's house was burning, six sentinels with fixed bayonets were under orders to forbid anyone to approach and to prevent any help being given. "All this destruction by arson, which only represents a small proportion of the acts of the same kind in the Department of Seine-et-Marne, was accomplished without the least tendency to rebellion or the smallest act of resistance being recorded against the inhabitants of the localities which are today more or less completely destroyed. In some villages the Germans, before setting fire to them made one of their soldiers fire a shot from his rifle so as to be able to pretend afterward that the civilian population had attacked them, an allegation which is all the more absurd since at the time when the enemy arrived, the only inhabitants left were old men, sick persons, or people absolutely without any means of aggression. [Illustration: Painting] THE HORRORS OF GERMAN RULE IN FRANCE Forcibly removing French civilians from Lille to German labor colonies. Families were ruthlessly separated and led away into slavery often worse than death. [Illustration: Hand to hand combat with bayonets.] Copyright Underwood and Underwood, N. Y. A FIGHT IN A CLOUD OF GAS The Germans had sent over gas and in this spot it lingered. Then the infantry advanced and here, amid the British wire entanglements, the foes meet. Both sides in gas masks, they struggle amid the "poisonous vapor, and when the bayonet fails they fight, like the pair in the foreground, to bring death by tearing away their opponent's mask. "Numerous crimes against the person have also been committed. In the majority of the communes hostages have been taken away; many of them have not returned. At Sermaize-les-Bains, the Germans carried off about one hundred and fifty people, some of whom were decked out with helmets and coats and compelled, thus equipped, to mount guard over the bridges.