The German terror in France

198 TERMONDE AND ALOST
"At 9.15 a.m. the German Army began to shell
Termonde, and soon afterwards it entered the
town by the Rue de l'Eglise, the Rue de Malines,
and the Rue de Bruxelles. German troops advanced
to the Civil Hospital, and there arrested as
hostages Dr. Van Winckel, President of the Red
Cross Association, who was attending to the
wounded, and also the Rev. M. Van Poucke, the
Chaplain, and M. César Schellekens, the Secretary
of the United Civil Hospitals. They were
taken to the centre of the town, accompanied by
various townsmen, who were arrested on the way
thither,
"Meanwhile the soldiery were pillaging cellars
and the shops of confectioners, bakers, grocers,
and wine and spirit merchants. The windowframes
gave way under the accumulated mass of
bottles.
" One company, under a captain, burst into the
offices of the ' Dender Central Bank,' a private
company, and searched them from end to end.
Soon after, a special squad entered the bank and
blew open the safe in the manager's room, from
which 2,400 francs were taken. They then
forced the wrought-iron door of the bank cellar,
which contained the boxes deposited by private
customers. But there was a second door to the
cellar which resisted their burglarious efforts. It
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