one o'clock
* * * * * It was about ten o'clock in the morning , just after he had transported all his forces hurriedly to the east bank , and as the Mongols were occupying the old entrenchments on the west , that General Loomis closed his conversation with the Chemical Laboratory . He turned to an aerial officer who stood at attention beside him . `` Major Maniu , '' he said , `` trail a white banner of truce on your plane and tell the enemy I will parley with them . Tell them that we will serve rations presently to our men who have worked all night without food or rest , and that if it is agreeable to them , both sides shall simultaneously discontinue activity at one o'clock . At that time I shall cross the river to offer them our terms of surrender . '' The officer saluted and hastened to his near-by plane . General Loomis ascended into his helicopter to confer with his staff to draw up in documentary form the surrender , and give the necessary orders relative to lowering of fire that afternoon .