We were desperately weary, to begin with, and our eyes, those past three days, had grown used to the signs of misery and waste and ruin, abundant and multiplying in the wake of the hard-pounding hoofs of the conqueror.
Now, all of a sudden, I became aware that this town had been literally shot to bits.

From our side--that is to say, from the north and likewise from the west--the Germans had shelled it.

From the south, plainly, the French had answered.

The village, in between, had caught the full force and fury of the contending fires.

Probably the inhabitants had warning; probably they fled when the German skirmishers surprised that outpost of Frenchmen camping in the park.