the hour of
10
The gas had got them . Five minutes to 10 o'clock had passed . It was three minutes to the attack or less , and the hurricane fire of the French artillery swept cyclonic over the German lines . A thousand yards away , more or less , as the ground gave advantage , the French front-line trenches were filled with men awaiting the hour of 10 -- two minutes off now -- to go over the top . The German batteries , behind , knew that the time was near ; but just when it would be , in two minutes , or in ten or in an hour-they did not know . When the fire of the French guns lifted , they did not know whether it would be to let the poilus assault , or whether it would be only to trick the German infantry and machine-gun men out of their tunnels and dugouts to meet the frightful fall of the French hurricane fire again . But the German guns doubled their response now when the French trebled theirs .