ficers standing up and
smoking their cigars until the last waggon had passed. Day had broken
when they received orders to withdraw. The National Guard went back
into Paris, and the Line, after a short halt at Montreuil, camped in the
barracks of St. Maur. At eight o'clock, the evacuation of the plateau
was complete; but the Prussian shells still fell upon the deserted
houses and some of the gun-carriages which had been abandoned. The enemy
then turned their attention to the forts of Rosny and Noisy. It hailed
shot on these two forts, and had they not been solidly built they would
not have withstood it. The noise of this cannonade was so loud that it
could be heard in the centre of Paris. Around the Fort of Noisy the
projectiles sank into the frozen ground to a depth of two and a half
metres, and raised blocks of earth weighing 30lbs. Shells fell as far as
Romainville. In the Rue de Pantin a drummer had his head carried off;
his comrades buried him on the spot. In the court of Fort Noisy three
men, hearing the hissing of a shell, threw themselves on the ground. It
was a bad inspiration; the shell fell on the one in the middle, and
killed all three. These were the only casualties in the fort, and at ten
o'clock the enemy's batteries ceased firing on it. All their efforts
were then directed against the Fort of Rosny. The shells swept the open
court, broke in the roof of the barracks, and tore down the peach-trees
whose fruit is so dear to the Parisians. From eleven o'clock, it was
impossible to pass along the road to Montreuil in safety. In that
village, the few persons who are still left sought shelter in their
cellars. At three o'clock the sun came out, and I passed along the
strategical road to Noisy. I met several regiments--Zouaves, Infantry,
and Marines--coming from Noisy and Bondy. I could distinctly see the
enemy's batteries. Their centre is in Rancy, and the guns seem to be in
the houses. The destruction in Bondy commenced by the French artillery
has been completed by the Prussians. From three batteries in the park of
Rancy they have destroyed the wall of the cemetery, behind which one
battery was posted and an earthwork. What remained of the church has
been literally reduced to dust. Except sentinels hid in the interior of
the houses, all our troops had been withdrawn. Some few persons, out of
curiosity, had adjourned to the Grande Place; their curiosity nearly
cost them dear, and they had to creep away. At three o