In five minutes everything was burning. Other Germans came through the woods and entered the town, where they behaved like madmen. They smashed in doors with their rifle butts and threw special burning cartridges into the houses. We were warned that it was time for us to escape, but we saw some terrible scenes. A woman who had forgotten to bring some clothing for her baby, and who returned to obtain it, was seized by the Germans. They made her march before them, and at the end of about 200 yards killed her. The French, though inferior in numbers, resisted splendidly, and the Germans were compelled to halt. The artillery duel was then resumed. Everything round our house was burning furiously, and we had to abandon all. When we arrived at Esau the soldiers made us crawl along the edge of a wood. The bullets were whistling above us, and of the forty people in our party only three dared to pass. At Chatelet we met strong bodies of French troops, and at eight in the evening we left for Charleroi. The fighting, however, had spread, and we had to go further. At 8.30 the last train left. A German aeroplane dropped a bomb within twenty yards of us, and though all the glass in the station was broken, no one was hurt. We thought we might reach Mons, but there was fighting there, and we were taken to the frontier and thence to Paris. A criticism came from a wounded gunner. “If we lose many men,” he said, “it is the fault of the infantry. They go ahead too quickly, and end by interfering with our fire.” A French Zouave officer, who returned wounded from the front, related the following. His regiment took part in the fighting round Charleroi when the Prussian Guard Regiments suffered so severely. Describing the effect of the German artillery, the officer said that the shells when they burst produce a series of terrific explosions, but do comparatively little damage. The soldiers quickly perceiving their chief characteristic is noise soon get accustomed to them. One man who was struck in the back by a splinter of shell was merely bruised. On the other hand the French artillery fire had a deadly effect. Its accuracy was little short of marvellous. For instance, he saw a German battery appearing in the distance, and even before it could unlimber it was destroyed by the French fire. The ravages caused by the French artillery were enormous. Whole ranks of infantry were mown down by the shrapnel, some of those shot dead remaining standing owing to the numbers of bodies accumulated round them.