The Arc de Triomphe

Iron In The Soul, p.178-9
'Why is it stupid?' asked Pinette irritably. 'I want to bring down a Jerry: what is there stupid about that?"
'You can bring down a hundred, but it won't alter the fact that the war has been lost.'
'I shall save my honour!'
'In whose eyes?'
Pinette walked on with lowered head, saying nothing.
'Even if they put up a monument to you, even if they laid your ashes under the Arc de Triomphe, would all that be worth the burning of a village?'
'Let it burn,' said Pinette: 'that's the fortune of war.'
'There are women and children in it.'
'They'll be safe enough if they run off into the fields.'