3-039-173 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Civil War in France: Fort Valérien firing at Paris, 1871. '...the working of the guns in Fort Valérien...[One of our Paris correspondents says]: "Fort Valérien has been very noisy all night with the rifled 24-pounders throwing 48-lb long shells. The precision of the gunners is remarkable, as they fire right up the Avenue de Neuilly and the Avenue de la Grande Armée; but their aim would be sure to involve the destruction of many houses. Only in two or three instances have I seen the shells directed against the Porte Maillot and the batteries erected on the portion of the ramparts close to it explode anywhere else. I think I have seen a hundred fall at the gate, and it is reported that breaches have been made in the rampart to such an extent that the insurgents have been obliged to withdraw their batteries for some distance...I do believe, from frequent observation, that the officer in command never willingly throws a shell into a house inhabited by unarmed people; but when the avenues immediately outside the Arc de Triomphe are aimed for with the object of clearing them of insurgents...it is impossible to avoid the sacrifice of innocent lives and of a vast amount of property belonging to persons who have no sympathy with the rebels".' From "Illustrated London News", 1871.