At _Thildonck_ 31 houses were burnt and 10 civilians killed. Seven of those killed in the commune of Thildonck belonged to the family of the two Valckenaers brothers, whose farms (situated close to one another) were occupied by the Belgian troops early on the morning of August 26th. As the Germans counter-attacked, the Belgian soldiers opened fire on them from the farm buildings and then retired. A platoon of Germans, with an officer at their head, entered Isodore Valckenaers’ farm (where the whole family was gathered) about 8.0 a.m. Isodore and two of his nephews--barely more than boys--were shot at once. His daughter, who clung to him and begged for his life, was torn away. The two young men were killed instantaneously. The elder, though horribly wounded by the bullet, survived, and was rescued next day. The rest of the family--a group of eleven women and children, for François-Edouard Valckenaers, the other brother, was away--were shot down half-an-hour later. They were herded together in the garden and fired on from all sides. Madame Isodore Valckenaers was holding her youngest baby in her arms. The bullet broke the child’s arm and mangled its face, and then tore the mother’s lip and destroyed one of her eyes. (The baby died, but the mother survived.) Madame F.-E. Valckenaers also survived--her dress was spattered with the brains of her fourteen-year-old son, whom she was holding by the hand. Five died altogether out of this group of eleven--some instantaneously, some after hours of agony. The eldest of them was only eighteen, the youngest was two-and-a-half. Thus seven of the Valckenaers’ family were killed in all out of the fourteen present, and three were severely wounded. Only four were left unscathed.[141] At _Werchter_[142] 267 houses were burnt and 162 sacked (out of 496), 15 civilians were killed, and 32 deported. The priests of _Wygmael_ and _Wesemael_ were dragged away as hostages, and driven, with a crowd of civilians from Herent, as a screen in front of the German troops on Aug. 29th. At Wesemael 46 houses were burnt, 13 civilians killed and 324 deported. At _Holsbeek_ one civilian was killed and 35 houses burnt. In the whole _Canton of Haecht_ 899 houses were burnt, 1,772 plundered, 116 civilians killed, and 647 deported.