Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/318

 without incurring any danger but from spent projectiles, which sometimes passed beyond the line of battle. During the seven days which the taking of Paris occupied—from Sunday the 21st, to Sunday the 28th—there was not a single offensive return or any attack made in the rear of the assailants by the National Guards. Nothing more clearly proves the excellence of the plan.

In the beginning of the day, Generals Ladmirault and Clinchant solidly established the base of their operations by the occupation of Passy and La Muette. General Ladmirault then advanced towards the Arc de Triomphe, as already described, and carrying the barricade in front of the monument, planted the tricolor on its summit. From that moment bombs, directed by the insurgents from Montmartre, endeavored vainly to overthrow the flag.

Meanwhile the 5th corps, under General Clinchant, entering by the gates of Auteuil and Maillot, continued along the ramparts as far as the Place Pereire, taking possession of the Ternes and the gate of Asnières, and then descended the Faubourg St. Honoré.

General Montaudon, commanding the third division of the 1st corps, followed this movement outside the walls, taking Neuilly, Levallois, Perret, and Clichy, and carrying the gate of St. Ouen, where he took 105 cannon from the insurgents.

The Arc de Triomphe being taken, the troops descended simultaneously to the Place de la Concorde, and towards the New Opera, by the Avenue Friedland and the Boulevard Haussmann.

At Neuilly, Levallois, the Ternes, and Courcelles, the National Guards were very much surprised to find that, though they had no serious combats the night before, many of their men were wounded by balls coming from the Bois de Boulogne, the gate of Neuilly and its neigh