Street fighting
Bloody week is the main part of the French Government's suppression of the Paris commune. It started on May 21st when the army got word that a part of the fortifications around the city was unguarded. This point is where the French Army got into the city and started gaining ground. At the end of May 1871 the street fighting was without mercy. Communards captured with weapons were swiftly executed by the army. During "Bloody Week" the leaders of the Commune tried to exchange their hostages for captured leaders of the Commune. Adolphe Thiers refused to negotiate. On May 24, in retaliation for the massacre of prisoners carried out by the army elsewhere in Paris, the Archbishop, a judge and four more hostages were executed by a firing squad in the courtyard of La Roquette prison by the Communards. May 27th and 28th were the last days of the battle when the last 150 defenders were surrounded at a cemetery and surrendered. Soon after, the last pockets of resistance surrendered, and Paris fell silent.
Executions and Trials
Some prisoners who had been captured with weapons in their hands or gunpowder on their hands had been shot on the spot. Others were taken to the main barracks of the army in Paris, after summary trials, were executed there. Many were buried in mass graves, then later exhumed and reburied in the city cemeteries. The British historian Robert Tombs examined the detailed records of the cemeteries
and concluded that the number of National Guardsmen and civilians killed during the "Bloody Week" was between 6000-7500. Other historians, without citing specific sources, estimated numbers of twenty thousand or more. The French Army officially recorded the capture of 43,522 prisoners during and immediately after Bloody Week. One thousand fifty four were women, and 615 were under the age of sixteen. These prisoners were marched in groups of one hundred fifty or two hundred, escorted by cavalrymen, to Versailles or the Camp de Satory where they were held in extremely crowded and unsanitary conditions until they could be tried. Twenty-two thousand seven hundred twenty-seven, more than half, were released before trial for attenuating circumstances or on humanitarian grounds. Since Paris has been officially under a state of siege during the Commune, the prisoners were tried by military tribunals. 15,895 prisoners were put on trial, of whom 13,500 were found guilty. Ninety-five were sentenced to death, 251 to forced labor, 1,169 to deportation, usually to New Caledonia; 3,147 to simple deportation, 1,257 to reclusion, 1,305 to prison for more than a year, and 2,054 to prison for less than a year.
and concluded that the number of National Guardsmen and civilians killed during the "Bloody Week" was between 6000-7500. Other historians, without citing specific sources, estimated numbers of twenty thousand or more. The French Army officially recorded the capture of 43,522 prisoners during and immediately after Bloody Week. One thousand fifty four were women, and 615 were under the age of sixteen. These prisoners were marched in groups of one hundred fifty or two hundred, escorted by cavalrymen, to Versailles or the Camp de Satory where they were held in extremely crowded and unsanitary conditions until they could be tried. Twenty-two thousand seven hundred twenty-seven, more than half, were released before trial for attenuating circumstances or on humanitarian grounds. Since Paris has been officially under a state of siege during the Commune, the prisoners were tried by military tribunals. 15,895 prisoners were put on trial, of whom 13,500 were found guilty. Ninety-five were sentenced to death, 251 to forced labor, 1,169 to deportation, usually to New Caledonia; 3,147 to simple deportation, 1,257 to reclusion, 1,305 to prison for more than a year, and 2,054 to prison for less than a year.