For this new duty Haig had not received proportionate reinforcements. He had now a front of 125 miles, and he did not dare to weaken his north and central sections, where, in the case of an attack, he had but little room to manœuvre. So he was compelled to leave the Fifth Army on his right in a condition of perilous weakness. Gough on his forty-mile front had no more than eleven divisions in line, and three infantry and two cavalry divisions in reserve. His right three divisions were holding 30,000 yards—an average of one bayonet to the yard, while the German average was four. There was the further handicap that the Germans from their position inside the great salient in the west could concentrate with ease a force of attack, and until the actual assault was made the Allied Command would not know on which side of the salient the blow would fall. For Ludendorff’s dispositions would threaten the French in Champagne as much as the British at St. Quentin. There was still no centralized command, though the Versailles Council provided something in the nature of a unified Staff. Hence it would not be easy to arrange for co-operation with Pétain and for the support of French reserves till the battle had developed, for the French commander would not unreasonably desire to keep his reserves at a point where they could be used with equal facility for St. Quentin or Champagne. Yet it was to French support that Gough must look in the first instance, since the available British reserves had been allotted to Byng, and it would take time to bring troops from Plumer and Horne in the north. The British Command attempted to atone for its weakness in numbers by devising defences of exceptional strength. In front, along the ground held by Byng and Gough, lay the “forward zone” organized in two sections—a line of outposts to give the alarm and fall back, and a well-wired line of resistance. In both were a number of skilfully placed redoubts armed with machine guns, and so arranged that any enemy advance would be drawn on between them, so as to come under cross fire. The spaces between the redoubts were to be protected by a barrage of field guns and corps heavy guns. The line of resistance and the redoubts were intended to hold out till the last, and to receive no support from the rear, except for such counter-attacks as might be necessary. The purpose of this “forward zone” was to break up an advancing enemy, and the principle of its organization was “blobs” rather than a continuous line.