On August 19th, 1914, the first German troops marched into Louvain and occupied quarters in the town. Intercourse between the inhabitants and the troops, whose number and composition were continually changing, appeared at first to be exceptionally good. No single case of excess occurred. The German troops behaved themselves in exemplary fashion, which even the Belgians recognised; further, the population of the town made such friendly advances that the German soldiers in Louvain felt so secure that many of them went about without arms (Apps. 2, 3, 7-9, 11, 18, 31, 36, 38, 40, 45, 48).
This peaceful picture suddenly changed on August 25th, 1914. On that day Belgian troops from Antwerp made a thrust in the direction of Louvain. The German troops in and about Louvain advanced to meet them; further troops were sent from Liège via Louvain to the front. The fighting took place on the road to Malines, near Bucken and Herent, in the vicinity of Louvain. The fight ended in the heavy defeat of the Belgians, who were thrown back in the evening towards Antwerp.
The inhabitants of Louvain, who had remained in secret communication with Antwerp even after the occupation of their town, and who had information of the impending attack by their countrymen, had apparently not reckoned on this result of the fight. They held the erroneous opinion that the projected breaking through of the Belgian Army must, with the help of English troops, be successful, and saw in the advance initiated by the Belgian troops a promise of success and also an encouragement to themselves to take part in the fighting (Apps. 1, 3, 45, 48).
Already before the fight had been decided, a German company of the Landsturm, which had been stationed at the north-western exit of Louvain, marched back towards 7 o'clock in the evening to a place situated at the east end of the town, near the station, in order to establish themselves there. During their march through the town everything was apparently still quiet. In the streets there were isolated ammunition and baggage columns, and several small detachments of German soldiers. There were no very large bodies of troops in Louvain at this time (Apps. 3, 7, 8, 38).
Among the inhabitants of the town who observed the march through of the Landsturm company were astonishingly large numbers of young men, apparently belonging to the wealthier classes, who stood about in the streets and retired slowly into the houses (Apps. 7, 10, 34, 46); women and children were not to be seen.