On the 16th the Army of the Meuse was between Nanteuil and Lizy-on-Ourcq; the 5th Cavalry Division had advanced to Dammartin; the 6th to beyond Beaumont, sending patrols up to before St. Denis. The IIIrd Army was spread over the area from Meaux to Compte Robert. Strong military bridges had been thrown over the Marne at Trilport and Lagny to replace the permanent ones which had been blown up, and on the 17th the Vth Corps reached the Upper Seine.
To secure the draw-bridges at Villeneuve St. Georges, the 17th Brigade pushed on down the right bank of the Seine towards Paris, and at Mont Mesly it encountered Exéa's Division, which had been sent out by General Vinoy to bring in or destroy stores of supplies. The fight which ensued ended in the French being driven back under shelter of Fort Charenton.
The IInd Bavarian Corps also reached the Seine on this day and bridged the river at Corbeil. The 2nd Cavalry Division was in observation in front of Saclay, towards Paris. The Royal head-quarter moved to Meaux by way of Château Thierry. The complete investment of the French capital was now imminent.
The works constructed under Louis Philippe effectually protected the city from being taken by storm. The artillery armament of the place consisted of over 2627 pieces, including 200 of the largest calibres of naval ordnance. There were 500 rounds for each gun, and in addition a reserve of three million kilogrammes of powder. As concerned the active strength of the garrison, besides the XIIIth Corps which had returned from Mézières, a new Corps, the XIVth, had been raised in Paris itself. These 50,000 troops of the line, 14,000 highly efficient and staunch marines and sailors, and about 8000 gensd'armes, customs officers, and forest-guards, formed the core of the defence. There were besides 115,000 Gardes-Mobiles, who had been drawn in from outside at an earlier date. The National Guard was formed into 130 battalions, which, however, being defective in equipment and poorly disciplined, could be employed only in the defence of the inner circle of fortifications. The volunteers, though numerous, proved for the most part useless.
In all the besieged force was over 300,000 strong, thus it was far more than double the strength of the besiegers as yet on the spot, of whom there were at the outside only about 60,000 men available, with 5000 cavalry and 124 field-batteries. On the Seine the defence had five floating batteries and nine section-built gunboats originally intended for the Rhine; on the railways were some guns mounted on armour-plated trucks.