The Paris Commune. Wednesday, April 12, 1871. At 9 p.m., suddenly detonations and very powerful shots, so close that almost all of Paris might believe the battle is in the city. The Versailles troops are attacking the southern forts. Marshal Mac-Mahon, who has become their new leader, wants to make himself known immediately and tries to enter Paris with a night attack. The fighting lasts an hour and a half, Mac-Mahon and his army are repelled. The Parisians have been out in the squares trying to get news, trying to understand what was happening. Never during the entire Prussian siege had the shelling and its noise been so intense.
