According to the insurgents, a party of marines, waving a white flag, advanced up to a trench occupied by the insurgents in front of the fort, crying out "Vive la Commune!" and then rushed on the Communists and bayoneted them. It is, however, more probable that this was another well-planned surprise, like that which succeeded at Moulin-Saquet. Many of the insurgents were killed or made prisoners, and the others retreated into the fort. The battery of Chatillon then opened a heavy fire of shell and canister shot, which fell on the parapet like hail.
The panic became general, and the insurgents, believing that a general attack was to be made, and that their retreat might be cut off, fled in confusion.
The fugitives, pursued by the fire of the troops, first endeavored to enter Paris by Porte Vanves, but were refused admission, as well as at several other gates at which they applied. Some attempted to pass by the gap in the fortifications made by the river Bièvre, but there the sentinels, who had strict orders to allow no one to pass, threatened to fire on them. They finally reached the Porte d'Italie, where, after waiting an hour, they were able to enter with the carts of the market-gardeners. The fort was reoccupied early in the morning, but soon became almost untenable, as the soldiers had advanced to within two hundred yards, and formed a semicircle of investment extending from the station of Clamart to the point where the railway intersects the military road, between the forts of Vanves and Montrouge. About fifty of the fugitive insurgents were afterwards disarmed by order of the Delegate of War, Colonel Rossel, and subjected to the military degradation of having the right sleeve of their overcoats cut off.
The official organ of the Commune published a decree declaring that on and after the 12th of May all articles of wearing apparel, linen, books, bedding, and working tools
