midnight
The compound was over 200 feet square , and in the centre of the compound was a big Red Cross made of canvas , painted red , on a background of whitewashed stones . It was 100 feet square . On each side of the compound a Red Cross blazed from the roof of the buildings , under the Geneva lights -- lights which the Germans had agreed should mark our hospitals and protect them from air raids . At midnight we left the hospital to visit those ambulance men who were stationed at the first aid posts , up near the battle line . It was an eery sort of night ride in the ambulance , going without lights , up the zigzags of the hill to the battle front of Verdun . The white clay of the road was sloppy and the car wobbled and skidded along and we passed scores of other vehicles going up and coming down -- with not a flicker of light on any of them . The Red Cross on our ambulance gave us the right of way over everything but ammunition trucks , so we sped forward rapidly .