midnight
They could plainly perceive from his tactics that their general was one who would spare no sacrifice of human life in order to gain his end and defeat the enemy . The corpses piled high on the field of Vionville of the Cuirassiers and Ziethen Hussars , who had been ordered to charge batteries of artillery in Balaclava fashion , afforded proof enough of that ; and the men said , with a laugh and a shrug of the shoulders , `` Ah , yes ; we 're going to have a warm time of it now with ` Old Blood and Iron , ' we are ! '' And they had ! Fritz had barely dropped to sleep on the evening of the 17th , when , towards midnight , he was aroused by the wild music of military trumpets , blown apparently from every bivouac in his neighbourhood for miles round . `` Who goes there ? '' he exclaimed , raising himself up on his elbow , but half awake and dreaming he was on sentry duty . `` Rouse up !