noon
Meanwhile the imperial and Saxon forces had advanced from the Kahlenberg , in one dense column , the sight of which had sorely shaken the confidence of Kara Mustapha in his power to resist them . On swept the mighty mass , and in a few moments the deep thunder of the cannon reverberated along the mountain gorges ; the clashing of swords and the rattling of musketry mingled with the cries of the wounded , and the groans of the dying ; while all above was fire and smoke . The passes were reddened with blood , which drop by drop flowed down their declivities , until it met another life-destroying current on its way ; and both glided onward to the Danube , empurpling its waters with the mingled gore of Christian and Paynim . The battle raged , without any decisive advantage , until long after noon . At four o'clock , however , the Ulans of the King of Poland were about to be overpowered by superior numbers , when re-enforcement came in the form of a charge on the right wing of the Turks , by the troops under Charles of Lorraine . Those flying squadrons , beneath whose horses ' hoofs the ground is trembling as if upheaved by an earthquake , are headed by Eugene -- the indomitable Eugene . On his foam-flecked steed , with a sword in his hand that is gory to the hilt , comes the `` little abbe , '' who was too much of a weakling to obtain a commission in the army of the King of France .