Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/330

 from descending towards the Seine by the Rue Bonaparte. They were supported by barricades in the latter street, also by those in the Rue du Four and Du Vieux-Colombier, which protected the Place St. Sulpice. On the other side of the depôt was the formidable barricade of the Croix Rouge, protecting the streets of Grenelle, Sèvres, and Cherche-Midi.

Finally, to complete this system of defence, and entirely cover the Luxembourg, two barricades were erected in the Rue Vaugirard, near the Rue Madame and the Rue Bonaparte, and a third was established in the Rue Fleurus.

All these ramparts were defended by artillery. Less important obstacles, accumulated in the side-streets, permitted the Federals to establish posts of observation, and facilitated the communications between the different centres of operation. At about eleven in the morning the soldiers, sheltered by a stone balustrade in front of the depôt, opened a violent fire of musketry on the barricades in the Rue de Rennes; and bombs from cannon, established at the corner of the Place, were sent whistling through the air every ten minutes during the entire day and most of the ensuing night.

Meanwhile, a manifestation in favor of the Government troops had taken place in the Rue du Bac. At three o'clock in the morning, the news of the entrance of the Versaillese having reached this quarter, seven National Guards of the 16th battalion, among whom were M. Duronchoux, colonel of a legion, and two officers, advanced sword in hand to the corner of the streets of Grenelle and Du Bac, where the Federals, headed by M. Sicard, member of the Commune, were erecting a barricade. While M. Duronchoux cried "Down with the Commune!" an officer tore down the red flag, and stamped it under foot. At the same time the tricolor was planted at the corner of the Rues du Bac and Varennes amidst shouts of "Vive la