Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/409

 It would seem as though the army had a presentiment of these catastrophes from the ardor with which they carried the different positions, and the rapidity with which they advanced as far as the security of the general plan would allow.

During the day of Wednesday, the 24th, the troops divided on the right bank into three principal columns, advanced through the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 10th Arrondissements. In this last they had taken possession of the church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, of the Northern and Eastern Railway Stations, and commanded the Boulevard Magenta; in the centre they had invaded the old boulevards, and had carried the barricades of the Portes St. Denis and St. Martin. In abandoning the latter the Federals had set fire to the Theatre of the Porte St. Martin, and to all the block of buildings beyond as far as the entrance of the Faubourg; towards the Seine, after a long and furious combat, they had become masters of the wheat-market, the central-market, of Saint-Eustache, and the insurgents, everywhere driven back, retired precipitately by the Rues Turbigo and Rambuteau to concentrate at the grand fortress of the Chateau-d'Eau and at the Bastille.

The insurgents in withdrawing set fire to the Church of Saint-Eustache, but the flames were fortunately extinguished before they could do much damage. The spire was demolished during the bombardment

Finally, the soldiers conquered, step by step, after a series of fierce engagements, the Louvre, the Place Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, and the streets Saint-Honoré and Rivoli as far as the Pont-Neuf. Most of the houses in these large thoroughfares bear the traces of bullets and shells; many indeed were entirely destroyed. Arrived at the Rue des Halles and the Pont-Neuf, the assailants were joined in the Cité by one of the divisions of General de Cissey.