How people will act under unusual conditions no one can guess.

Many of the citizens of Rheims were abandoning their homes and running through the streets leading west, trembling, weeping, incoherent with terror, carrying nothing with them.

Others were continuing the routine of life with anxious faces but making no other sign.

The great majority had moved to the west of the city to the Paris gate, and for miles lined the road, but had taken little or nothing with them, apparently intending to return at nightfall.
They were all of the poorer class.

The houses of the rich were closed, as were all the shops, except a few cafes and those that offered for sale bread, meat, and medicine.
During the morning the bombardment destroyed many houses.