"Meanwhile a terrible hand-to-hand fight was going on throughout the long, scattered village. Infantry and artillerists smashed the doors and windows; no mercy was shown to anyone, and the houses were set alight. An attempt to storm the church-tower failed because the occupants fired from above. Bundles of straw were brought, paraffin poured on them, and the tower set on fire. Above the roar of the flames we could distinctly hear the shrieks of the murderers shut in there. "I gave orders to a squad to shoot our prisoners, but a deadly bullet finished the career of the lying, scoundrelly priest as he was trying to escape. Our losses were remarkably small, only two men being killed and a number wounded."[105] [Footnote 105: Ibid., p. 43-4.] In all cases where German soldiers asked for water from the inhabitants, the latter had to take a drink first. "Before tasting the water both man and wife had to drink first, and as this scene was repeated on innumerable occasions, it was delightful to observe the comic desperation with which the people took their involuntary 'water cure.'"[106] [Footnote 106: "Mit der Kluck'schen Armee nach Belgien" ("With von Kluck's Army into Belgium"), by Dr. Jos. Risse, p. 17.] Dr. Risse's interesting diary contains one or two important passages illustrating the relation between conquerors and conquered. Like many other German writers, he saw no hostile act on the part of the civilian population, but they came to him as rumours. "That night we slept in a barn. Here we heard that a village near Dahlem had been burned down because the inhabitants had cut the throat of a sleeping ambulance attendant. "On continuing our march we suddenly entered a wide vale. The horizon was blood-red and huge clouds of smoke drifted heavenwards. On all sides the villages were in flames. In the last village before Louvain the sight was terrible in the extreme; houses ablaze; pools of blood in the street; here and there a dead civilian; pieces of Belgian equipment, haversacks, boots and trousers lay around; while the inhabitants stood about with their hands raised above their heads. "It was said that hostile cavalry had hidden in the village and together with a part of the inhabitants had fired on our troops. We only saw the consequences. "After a long rest before Louvain we entered the town at 7 p.m. Our artillery had taken up a semi-circular position on the heights around and directed their cannon on to the town."[107] [Footnote 107: Ibid., pp. 22-3.] The above events occurred on August 19th, exactly six days before the sack of Louvain. It strikes one as remarkable that the German cannon were even on that day directed against an unfortified city.