The Prussians circled Paris and closed it off so tightly that no one could escape. The Parisians questioned themselves as to how their leaders could break out of Paris and into the countryside. Then the answer came from above.
A British journalist in Paris, working for the Manchester Guardian, had his news reports sent out by hot-air balloon. When the people of Paris saw this they knew what to do. But the military said 'no'. Then the Prussians bombed the city. Then the military said 'Yes'.
Only seven weather-beaten balloons existed in Paris. Also, there was no hydrogen left. The only aerial fuel was the highly explosive coal-gas. If used, a single German bullet could turn a balloon into a ball of fire. Still, the Parisians went ahead.
A former dancehall was converted into a factory. Sixty young women were employed to sew the cotton balloons together. Sailors were at work braiding ropes and others weaved huge baskets big enough to carry four passengers and hundreds of pounds of letters and official documents.
Only eighteen men in Paris knew how to pilot a balloon. And more than eighteen balloons were needed. A training school was set up in the factory with wicker baskets and ropes suspended from ceilings. Most of the new pilots trained were sailors; men who had climbed rope ladders on tall ships during stormy weather.
By the end of September Parisians were ready to send out their air-machines. Highly combustible balloons that were piloted mostly by inexperienced balloonists.
And the pilots had no control over which direction they would be blown. But they did have some control over up and down. Throwing sandbags overboard would send them up. Throwing an anchor overboard would send them down. So would lightning; and if they saw a flash, they would immediately end their trip or have it ended for them.
On October 7, one of the first men to drift out of Paris was the Minister of the Interior, Leon Gambetta. The one-eyed 32-year-old bureaucrat was well known and well liked by people in unoccupied France. He safely landed fifty miles away in Clermont and at once became the leader of the underground movement.
The Germans, of course, decided to do something about all this. They built the world's first anti-aircraft guns. The balloonists would watch the German cannonballs shoot into the sky and then fall back to Earth.
Next, the Prussians set up observation posts around Paris. They shadowed the balloons as they sailed through the sky, waiting for them to descend. A few balloons were caught in this way. By the end of November, with winter coming on, the French deicded to send their balloons out only at night.
The underground also tried to send messages into Paris, but not by balloon, that was too risky. Men who tried to sneak through the blockade were caught and killed. And most of the messenger pigeons that tried to fly over the blockade were caught and eaten by falcons owned by Germans.
Gambetta was able to rally support in the countryside and his guerillas even won some minor battles. But by January Paris, France, fell to the Prussians. The French generals were jealous of Gambetta and would not give their full support.
In all 65 balloons floated out of Paris. Five dogs, 381 messenger pigeons, and 164 people escaped. Also, over the heads of the Germans, flew eleven tons of official dispatches and two and a half million letters.
THE END.
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