Whole towns and villages have been pillaged, burned, destroyed; private houses have been stripped of all their furniture, which the enemy has carried off; fruit-trees have been torn up or rendered useless for all future production; springs and wells have been poisoned. The comparatively few inhabitants who were not evacuated to the rear were left with the smallest possible ration of food, while the enemy took possession of the stocks provided by the Neutral Relief Committee and intended for the civil population.

The fact has been established by our military authorities in the recaptured districts (says this instruction) and notably at PÉronne, where the branch of the banque de France was pillaged and the strong rooms were found broken open and empty, that a very large number of securities have been stolen by the German troops in their retreat.

French Official Protest, March 24, 1917.