23 May 1871 was the day the French army took Montmartre and Montparnasse from the Commune troops... the pink sector on the West side of the map shows their advance, black dots = major barricade fighting... 1/

2/ This contemporary plate shows the Women's Battalion defending the Place Blanche barricade very hard to defend angle at the top of Rue Fonataine...

3/ The guy on the horse is probably Dombrowski, who according to trial evidence rode past before getting killed. The woman is probably Nathalie Le Mel de facto the leader of the group, 45-year old print union activist. Here's the evidence from her trial...

Here's Dombrowski...and here's Nathalie Le Mel... she survived three years prison and 6 years deportation to New Caledonia... returning to the print after her release and living until 1921!

As night falls Elie Reclus, watching from the top of Buttes Chaumont, describes the fighting... more tomorrow, as on 24 May the insurgents get pushed back towards the line Gare de l'Est - Pantheon... #ViveLaCommune

Nathalie has a small street in Paris named after her... where the French HQ of the First International was... but I didn't realise she also has this amazing mural in Brest, her home city..