3-039-017 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The bridge at Sevres, [France], 1871. Franco-Prussian War. 'The bridge of Sevres, with the adjacent park of St. Cloud, was visited by many persons from the Prussian head-quarters, who were desirous of seeing the effects that had been produced by the French artillery upon those positions, lately forming the advanced posts of the German army. The Sevres porcelain factory had been converted into a complete fortress, with loopholed walls, bastions and ramparts, and a moat; and every road, lane, or path, to the bank of the Seine, was barricaded against an assault. Quantities of iron plates and rods, and wooden planks, found in the Sevres factory, had been applied to this purpose...The furthest arch of the Sevres bridge towards the north lies in the river, as the French blew it up at the commencement of the siege. Just beyond, on the high bank of the river, on each side of the street stands a house whose blackened front looks across hollow-eyed, with its glassless windows. There had been a French guard on the watch in these houses. The bridge was covered with fragments of iron and stone. The French did not appear at all inclined to enter into conversation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.