eight o'clock
they come continually ! '' And we could see innumerable bayonets in the same direction as far as the eye could reach . The Prussians were spreading more and more over the hill-side near the windmills . This movement continued till eight o'clock . Nobody was hungry , but we ate all the same , so as not to reproach ourselves ; for the battle , once begun , might last two days without giving us a chance to eat again . Between eight and nine o'clock the first battalions of our division left the wood . The officers came to shake hands with their comrades , but the staff remained in the rear .