Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/131

 taken up their position, Mont Valérien ceased firing, but the cannon and mitrailleuse supplied its place.

The insurgents then tried to protect themselves behind the barricade at the end of the bridge, but ineffectually, as that construction, badly put together, and made up of timber and paving-stones, could not resist cannon-balls, and was speedily demolished. At that moment the men of the Commune experienced their severest losses, the mitrailleuses making fearful havoc in their ranks, and a moment of indescribable confusion ensued. Several pieces of cannon had stood for a long time behind the bridge, but could not be used, as the road was encumbered with fugitives. At last some artillery-men arrived to remove the pieces, but a shell dropping in their midst, killing and wounding large numbers, they were compelled to drag their guns into the side-streets.

The insurgents being obliged to abandon the bridge, took refuge in the houses, and continued to fire on the soldiers who had adopted a similar measure on the other side of the river. Eight pieces on the ramparts around the Porte Maillot (the gate of the barricade connecting the Avenue de la Grande Armée with the Avenue Neuilly) then commenced to shell the Avenue Neuilly, and for a long time prevented the troops from reconstructing the barricade. Gradually the insurgents abandoned the combat, and some companies re-entered Paris. At five o'clock the fusillade recommenced, the soldiers issuing in force from the houses, and, covered by the fire from the demi-lune, restored the barricade, and established themselves behind it, though not without considerable loss.

At the close of the day, Neuilly was completely abandoned by the National Guards. Colonel Bourgoin, who was intrusted with the defence of the barricade by Bergeret, died bravely fighting behind it. This officer was formerly an aide-de-camp to Flourens, when he was fighting the Turks in the Cretean insurrection.