3-039-245 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Fighting in Paris: attack on the barricades at the Panthéon, 1871. '..the troops...were able to turn the flank of the enemy's position by...breaking their way from house to house through the walls, or clambering over the roofs, till they could pour down a destructive side fire upon the defenders of the barricade, which was at the same time bombarded with shell by a battery of large guns planted in front...some of the soldiers made haste, as they hurried up the street, ducking heads and hugging walls, to mount some of the corner houses, while others extemporised a barricade in the street...presently the muzzles of rifles were poked through the upper panes, and sharp cracks and thick puffs of smoke coming out showed that the men had settled down to their work. The barricade...had to be made in front of the enemy's fire; but it was contrived with wonderful coolness and rapidity...By pushing this barricade cautiously across the street, lying down under cover of one bit as they built another, the soldiers soon had cover enough to fire...straight up at the insurgents' barricade, while their comrades at the windows took it from above in flank. It was in this manner that the streets of Paris were slowly but surely occupied by the regular troops'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.