by the fire of _Fort Pontisse_, revenged themselves by shooting 11 civilians, including old men of 76 and 82 years. On the 14th, the day after the surrender of the fort, the inhabitants of Hermée were driven from their homes and the village systematically burnt, 146 houses out of 308 being destroyed. In the village itself, as apart from the outlying hamlets of the commune, only two or three houses were left standing. At _Fexhe-Slins_, near Hermée, 3 people were killed. Twenty-three were killed, and 13 houses destroyed, in the hamlet of _Rhées_ in the commune of _Herstal_.[57] Thus the Germans plundered private property, burned down houses, and shot civilians of both sexes and all ages, on every road by which they marched upon Liége--from the north-east, the south-east, and the north. One thousand and thirty-two civilians[58] were shot by the Germans in the whole _Province of Liége_, and 3,173 houses were destroyed in two arrondissements (those of Liége and Verviers) alone out of the four of which the Province is made up. (viii) _The City of Liége._ Twenty-nine of these civilians were killed and 55[59] of the houses destroyed in the _city of Liége_ itself--on August 20th, a fortnight after it had fallen into the German Army’s possession. The Germans entered Liége on August 7th. Their entry was not opposed by Belgian troops, and arms in private hands had already been called in by the Belgian police.[60] The Germans found themselves in peaceful occupation of a great industrial city, caught in the full tide of its normal life. There was nothing to suggest outrage, still less to excuse it, in their surroundings there; their conduct on August 20th was deliberate and cold-blooded. The Higher Command was faced with the problem of holding a conquered country, and wanted an example. The troops in garrison were demoralised by the sudden change to idleness from fatigue and danger, and were ready for excitement and pillage. “Aug. 16th, Liége,” writes a German soldier in his diary.[61] “The villages we passed through had been destroyed. “Aug. 19th. Quartered in University. Gone on the loose and boozed through the streets of Liége. Lie on straw; enough booze; too little to eat, or we must steal. “Aug. 20th. In the night the inhabitants of Liége became mutinous. Forty persons were shot and 15 houses demolished. Ten soldiers were shot. The sights here make you cry.” There are proofs of German premeditation--warnings from German soldiers to civilians on whom they were billeted,[62] and an ammunition waggon which drew up at 8.0 a.m. in the Rue des Pitteurs, and twelve hours later disgorged the benzine with which the houses in that street were drenched before being burnt.[63]