noon
The king took up his quarters at a large house in Rossbach ; and from its roof , at eight o'clock on the morning of the 5th , he saw that the enemy were getting into motion and moving away towards their left . The movement had begun much earlier . Half an hour later they had passed through the village of Grost , and were apparently making their way to Freiburg , where they had some magazines . Hoping to have a chance of attacking their rear , Frederick ordered the cavalry to saddle , and the whole army to be in readiness , and then sat down to dinner with his officers at noon . Little did he dream , at the time , that the slow and clumsy movement that he was watching was intended , by the enemy , to end in a flank attack on himself . On the previous day Soubise , with his generals , looking down on the Prussian camp , had reckoned their force at ten thousand . In reality they had seen only a portion of their camp , the site being hidden by a dip of the ground .