midnight
As the evening closed in , the heavy south-westerly gale that had raged throughout the long-drawn summer 's day gradually dropped , and blew now only in fitful gusts . Instead of the sullen , unending roar of artillery , which till past mid-day had stunned the ear , there was now to be heard only the muttering of distant thunder ; the flash of guns was replaced by the glare of lightning flickering against the dark background of heavy cloud that hung low on the horizon ; and , except for an irregular splutter of musketry , or an occasional dropping shot from direction of the town , the ominous , sustained rattle of small-arms had now entirely ceased . The night of the 31st July 1759 had seen the French army march out beyond the ramparts of Minden , to take up position against the Allied Forces under Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick . So fiercely blew the gale then that it drowned the sound of the town clocks striking midnight ; so furiously raged the storm with the coming of day that , to windward , even the roar of cannon could not be heard , and it was only the dense clouds of smoke that told they were engaged . As day broke on the 1st of August the French , under a heavy artillery fire , had attacked with fury , but now , repulsed and broken at every point , they were driven back to their old position behind the town ramparts , where for a few hours longer they staved off surrender . On the Allied right , where fighting had been hottest and most stubborn , the chief brunt of the action fell on six regiments of British infantry , supported by three battalions of Hanoverians . Never have troops of any nation reaped greater glory , nor earned more lasting fame , than that day fell to the lot of those battalions .