midday
At eleven in the evening the men who were on guard towards the north announced that a large Prussian army was arriving by way of Mulhausen . It proved to be General Manteuffel 's . The third day after the battle , the Hanoverian army had received no news of the Bavarian army , and was surrounded by 30,000 men . Towards midday , a lieutenant-colonel came with a flag of truce , from General Manteuffel , to propose that the king should surrender . The king replied that he knew perfectly well that he was hemmed in on all sides , but that he , his son , his major-general , his officers , and soldiers , from the highest to the lowest , preferred to die , unless an honourable capitulation were offered them . At the same time he called a council of war which declared unanimously for a capitulation , as long as it was honourable . There was , indeed , no choice .