Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/157

 of engineers. To which force was added, towards the end of April, two other corps, viz., those of Generals Douay and Clinchant.

It was thus, with six army corps, that Marshal de McMahon commenced active operations for the suppression of the insurrection of Paris.

The morning of the 15th commenced with a sharp cannonade, which lasted about four hours. The Versailles batteries then ceased firing, but for a considerable time the insurgent guns continued to batter the defences at Neuilly and Courbevoie. In the meantime rapid musketry firing was kept up in the Bois de Boulogne and and Levallois, where the combatants, posted at the windows and concealed in the streets and gardens, kept up a constant fusillade. In the afternoon the batteries of Mont Valérien and Courbevoie recommenced their fire.

The guns of Trocadéro were tried during the morning, not on the fortress, as before, but on Longchamps, where reserved troops were encamped. From the Trocadéro to Mont Valérien the distance is a little over three miles and a quarter, which was quite within reach of long range guns. Shells had already fallen at Chaillot which is in the rear of Trocadéro. Passy also commenced to suffer from the fire in this new direction, as the projectiles intended for the battery on the Trocadéro frequently fell there. The fighting was very obstinate during the afternoon at Levallois, a part of which village was occupied by the troops and part by the insurgents. At four o'clock two iron-clad locomotive batteries left the Batignolle's station in the direction of Levallois, and shortly after the noise of the mitrailleuses, with which they were armed, could be heard. Two heavy ship guns placed on the bastion at the Porte St. Ouen also took part in the combat, which terminated by the insurgents falling back behind their barricades.