Paris under the Commune: The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs)Leighton, John
History
Paris under the Commune: The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs)
Leighton, John
Paris (France) -- History -- Commune, 1871
The paintings at NOTRE-DAME-DE-LORETTE, at SAINT-GERMAIN-L’AUXERROIS,
and at SAINT-GERMAIN-DES-PRÉS have been spared.
It is curious that the churches suffered so little, whilst several
theatres were burned, including the Porte St. Martin, Théâtre du
Châtelet, Lyrique, Délassements Comiques, etc.
The windows of the church of SAINT-JACQUES-DU-HAUT-PAS are destroyed.
It has been estimated that the value of the houses and other property
destroyed in Paris amounts to twenty millions sterling. In addition to
this, it is said that twelve millions’ worth of works of art,
furniture, &c., have disappeared, and that more than two and a half
millions’ worth of merchandise was burnt, making a total of nearly
thirty-five millions. It has been said that the value of the
window-glass alone destroyed during the reign of the Commune approaches
a million sterling. The demand for glass was at one time so great that
the supply was quite insufficient, and at the present moment the price
is 20 per cent. higher than usual.
XV.
The following order of the day of General de Ladmirault, commanding the
first army corps of Versailles, sums up the principal episodes of this
eight days battle:—
“Officers and soldiers of the First Corps d’Armée,—
The defences of the lines of Neuilly, Courbevoie, Bécon and
Asnières served you by way of apprenticeship. Your energy and
courage were formed amid the greatest works and perils. Every one
in his grade has given an example of the most complete abnegation
and devotion. Artillery, engineers, troops of the line, cavalry,
volunteers of the Seine-et-Oise, you rivalled each other in zeal
and ardour. Thus prepared, on the 22nd of the month you attacked
the insurgents, whose guilty designs and criminal undertakings you
knew and despised. You devoted yourselves nobly to save from
destruction the monuments of our old national glory, as well as the
property of the citizens menaced by savage rage.
On the 23rd of the month, the formidable position of the Buttes
Montmartre could no longer resist your efforts, in spite of all the
forces with which they were covered.
This task was confided to the first and second division and the
volunteers of the Seine and Seine-et-Oise, and the heads of the
various columns arrived simultaneously at the summit of the
position.
On the 24th, the third division, which alone had been charged with
the task of driving the insurgents out of Neuilly,
Levallois-Perret, and Saint-Ouen, joined the other divisions, and
took possession of the terminus of the Eastern Railway, while the
first division seized that of the Northern line by force of arms.
On the 26th, the third division occupied the _rotonde_—circular
place—of La Villette.
On the 27th, the first and second division, with the volunteers of
the Seine-et-Oise, by means of a combined movement, took the Buttes
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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