Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/137



cannon's mouth and from exploding shells as if it had been night. Insurgents were seen collecting in the Bois de Boulogne. Valérien shelled them, but they got under cover.

"Troops entered the wood and gave them chase; they ran across towards the Porte Maillot. The National Guards there fired, and so stopped the pursuit, but the shots from the fort brought down friends and foes alike. When the terrific din had somewhat abated, and the smoke partially cleared away, I saw a body of troops, each furnished with a sand-bag, approach the barricade at the end of the bridge. The insurgents had retreated to the second barricade. Putting the sand-bags on the top of the barricade, the infantry crouched behind it and fired volley after volley along the bridge, while Valérien and all the military batteries kept sweeping the avenue. In half an hour the troops were on the bridge. A column of them was marched over it, and proceeded to occupy the houses at St. James on the right and at Neuilly on the left. A caisson left by the insurgents on the bridge exploded and killed General Besson on the spot. The firing of artillery was still very hot; but at four o'clock the fusillade had ceased near the bridge.

"General Pechot was found to be badly wounded. He died in the Press Ambulance a short time after he was carried in there. It was nearly six o'clock when the artillery fire slackened, and the struggle came to a conclusion for the day. Just then two rifled 24-pounders arrived at Valérien, and were at once placed in position.

"During the fight no fewer than twenty-one officers were killed or wounded on the Government side. The bridge and the entrance of the Avenue were strewn with dead and wounded insurgents. At eleven at night the division of General Grenier was marched out from Versailles to supply the place of the division of General