The Kingdom of serbia : report upon the atrocities committed by the Austro-Hungarian Army during the first invasion of Serbia

BOMBARDMENT AND DESTRUCTION 21

gasses towards the centre of the town although this was no longer sheltering soldiers. The exterior and the belfry of the Cathedral were badly damaged. The interior had suffered comparatively little. As will be shown in another chapter, the town of Shabatz was not only subjected to the effects of the bombardment but was sacked from end to end by the enemy troops which passed through it.

Loznitza. In Loznitza 1 observed the same rage for destruction, by which I had already been struck in Shabatz. When I was in Loznitza there were no military forces there, but nevertheless the Austrian artillery continued to bombard it. Here also I noticed the employment of fougasses. Many houses were completely burnt.

Incendiary projectiles were only used after the second occupation of the town by the Austrians. Two soldiers were burnt in an attempt to extinguish the fire caused in a house by one of these contrivances. After the conclusion of peace the town of Loznitza will have to be largely rebuilt.

Countless houses were set on fire by the soldiers of the army of invasion. Both in town and country, house property was destroyed by fire without any strategical necessity. At the time of my enquiry and in the four districts of the county of Shabatz alone, 1,658 buildings had been set on fire, viz. : 282 in the Potzerski district, 457 in the Matchvanski distriet, 228 in the Azbukovatchki district, and 741 in the Yadranski district. Almost all this house property consisted in country dwellings. As the result of these fires, 1,748