In justifying the use of the atrocity as a military instrument more
efficient in breaking down the morale of the Belgian army than cannon
and liquid fire could possibly be, a German army officer's letter uses
these words: "The ruthless use of severities upon the civilians has
now succeeded in scattering the wretched Belgian army." But concerning
what atrocity is this officer writing? He wrote these words at the
end of the third day, after the Germans had pillaged Louvain, thus
serving notice on all the Belgian and French cities, rich in historic
monuments, libraries, galleries, cathedrals, and art treasures, that
unless they immediately surrendered, their whole city would be ruined.
And ruined after what manner? Let Cardinal Mercier, the Primate of
Belgium, tell the story. "At Louvain the third part of the city
has been destroyed; one thousand and seventy-four dwellings have
disappeared; in addition, in the suburbs Kesselloo, Herent and
Herberle, one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-eight houses have
been burned. In this dear city of Louvain, ever in my thoughts,
the magnificent church of St. Peter will never recover its former
splendour. The ancient college of St. Ives, the art schools, the
commercial and consular schools of the University; the old markets;
our rich library, with its collections, its unique and unpublished
manuscripts, its archives, its gallery of great portraits of
illustrious rectors, chancellors, professors, dating from the time of
its foundation, which preserved for masters and students alike a noble
tradition, and were an incitement to good work--all this accumulation
of intellectual, historic, and artistic richness, the fruit of the
labours of five centuries, all, all is in ashes."