SPOILS FOR THE VICTORS
Reading edition
They sang, shouted and waved their arms. Most of them carried bottles full of liquor, which they put into their mouths frequently, smashed them on the ground, or handed them to their comrades, when unable to drink any more themselves. Each of a troop of cavalry had a bottle of pickles, and enjoyed them immensely.
Other soldiers kept on running into the burning houses, carrying out vases, pictures, plate, or small pieces of furniture. They smashed everything on the cobbles and then returned to wreck more things that would have been destroyed by the fire all the same. It was a revelry of drunken vandalism. They seemed mad, and even risking being burned alive at this work of destruction. Most of the officers were also tipsy; not one of them was saluted by the soldiers.
“The German Fury in Belgium,” By L. Mokveld.
