““German resistance continued to present a hodgepodge of fanaticism amid disorder. A British patrol entering a deserted village east of Valenciennes in the northern sector came across a wounded German lieutenant propped up against the wall of a house. He told them, in flawless English, that his men had abandoned the town two hours before and he hoped a British field surgeon might treat him. Given this information, the leader of the patrol began marching some two hundred men into the village square. As they arrived, machine guns appeared to sprout from every window and a church tower. More than a hundred dead Tommies piled up in the square.””