ON MARCH 18 TROOPS LEAVE THEIR BARRACKS AT 2 A.M.
TO SEIZE THE CANNONS BY SURPRISE
No horses, no whinnies. The muffled sound of marching boots does not wake the sleeping city.
La Prise des cannons 18 mars 1871, "The Execution" by J-P Dethorey, 1994, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Saint-Denis
A guard on duty on the Montmartre hilltop asks to see the marching orders: A shot goes off and he is mortally wounded.
 |
The New Babylon |
He dies a week later, saying that his life is well worth the upheaval due to the shooting.
"Betrayed!" cries a schoolteacher as she tears up the slope.
Louise Michel enters history:
.jpg)
Louise Michel, the Red Virgin, a graphic novel by Mary and Bryon Tolbat (La librairie Vuibert), 2016 (French version)
We seemed transported above the earth. We dead, Paris would rise. At certain hours crowds are the human ocean's avant-garde.
A white light enveloped the summit, a splendid dawn of deliverance."
-- Louise Michel
Horses arrive later, and the soldiers start dragging the cannons toward town. When the crowd seizes them and hauls them back to the summit, they do not resist.
# # #
A soldier smoking and standing by becomes a stock figure: Many future Communards believe that the troops will not hurt them.
 |
| 22 mai, 1871. Femme conduisant une mitrailleuse place Turenne, « Le Monde Illustré » / zoom (please scroll down) |
 |
-- Claretie |
# # #
Tolling bells spread the news and barricades spring up throughout the east, in spite of the wide, straight streets built to prevent them.
An officer is shot at the foot of the Montmartre hill:
(On place Pigalle)
 |
| Le Monde illustré, March 25 1871 / zoom (please scroll down) |
Church bells toll and guards' drumbeats call to arms.
That ambiance explains what follows.
But first, Louise Michel.
* * *
No comments:
Post a Comment