Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/240

 On the morning of the fifth considerable skirmishing took place in the Park of Bagneux, and at the entrance to the village. The insurgents, who were only a short distance from that locality, and had barricaded the approach to Montrouge, made a reconnaissance in advance. The army had, however, considerable forces in the neighborhood, and some guns at Chatillon opened fire on the Communists, who were compelled to retreat to their trenches. Issy continued to receive a convergent fire from the batteries of the Orangery, the Tour-aux-Anglais, Val-Fleury, Clamart, and the Moulin-de-Pierre. The insurgents had repaired the fortifications with mattresses of dried seaweed and heaps of stable manure, but the straw had become dried by the wind and sun, and was set on fire by shells. The troops continued their works along the railway embankment, with the object of isolating the Fort of Issy from that of Vanves. About four in the afternoon an engagement, without result, took place before the first houses at the Moulineaux.

A large number of naval gunners arrived from Toulon by express, and were to be sent to new positions recently fortified by the Government. The marine pieces were those which they had been accustomed to work.

The insurgents kept continually losing ground on the west of the city, the regular troops having taken all the houses on the Avenue Neuilly to within three hundred yards of Porte Maillot. The army of Versailles was also working its way along the right bank of the river in the direction of the bridge of Asnières, in order to completely cut off the Communists from the Seine.

The arrival of official information from Versailles was more than acceptable to the large majority of the Parisians, and occasionally an outside journal from Versailles arrived with news which roused their drooping spirits. The subjoined communication from M. Thiers, which was