Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/329

 along the exterior boulevards, carried successively the defences of Batignolles, thus opening the way to the cemetery of Montmartre, already reached by the division under General Montaudon, who had followed the same route outside the walls as far as St. Ouen. The object on the right was to attack Montmartre by its most accessible side. Here the insurgents had gained their victory of the 18th of March. The place was now strongly fortified, and regarded by them as the citadel of the town. To attack it in front would have been folly. It was necessary to envelope it, rapidly to concentrate great masses of troops, and to scale the heights at the mouth of the cannon; these, happily, could not do much to annoy the invaders, owing to the steepness of the hill, which prevented their being employed on assailants passing close to the base.

While Montmartre was thus being surrounded preparatory to the attack on the morrow, the troops of General de Cissey, on the left bank of the river, were equally successful.

Early on Monday morning, a body of troops was sent to occupy the Gare Montparnasse, which they succeeded in doing, after carrying several strong barricades in the quarter of Plaisance. Several companies penetrated into the depôt by the entrance at the junction of the streets Armorique and Cotentin. At their approach, the National Guards who occupied this important post, and who were entirely unprepared for so sudden an attack, hurriedly evacuated the spot It was immediately placed in a state of defence, and occupied by the troops in great numbers.

The insurgents meanwhile hastened to construct two strong barricades in the Rue de Rennes, at the corners of the Rue du Vieux-Colombier and the Place St. Germain-des-Prés. These barricades were armed with cannon, to reply to the fire from the depôt, and to prevent the troops