General Joffre's 'Instruction' for the offensive on the 6th was brought to British General Headquarters by a French staff officer at 3 a.m. on the morning of the 5th. Unfortunately, orders to the British army to continue the retreat in accordance with General Joffre's previous instructions had already been given to the corps commanders. The Second Corps had moved off before midnight and the First and Third Corps a little later. Consequently the British army by the end of the day was some twelve to fifteen miles farther back than the French Commander-in-Chief expected, and although its subsequent advance across the Marne had a decisive effect, the hard fighting of the battle was borne by the French army on the Ourcq. During the 5th, General Maunoury, commanding the Sixth French Army on the British left, and later on General Joffre himself, visited Sir John French, and all arrangements for the morrow's offensive were discussed. Sir John French's operation orders issued at 5.15 p.m. on the 5th of September directed the army to advance eastward with a view to attacking. The preliminary movement of the British army, a wheel to the east, pivoting on its right, was to be completed by the right wing at 9 a.m. and by the left wing at 10 a.m. on the 6th. On the early morning of the 6th Sir John French gave verbal instructions that the Royal Flying Corps were to send aeroplanes to report for reconnaissance direct to the First and Second Corps. The officer commanding No. 5 Squadron, with three machines, was to report for tactical reconnaissance direct to Sir Douglas Haig at Chaubuisson farm, one and a half miles east of Fontenay; and the officer commanding No. 3 Squadron, also with three machines, was to report direct to Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien at Combreux Chateau, near Tournan. With each detachment was to go a wireless aeroplane from No. 4 Squadron to keep Royal Flying Corps headquarters informed by wireless. The machines were to return to headquarters at night. This was the beginning of the decentralization of the Royal Flying Corps, whereby certain squadrons, which came to be called corps squadrons, were attached to the corps commands. The German air service from the beginning had been thus organized. With the German First Army headquarters there was one aeroplane section for long-distance strategic reconnaissance and each of the corps, with the exception of the Fourth Reserve Corps, had its own section for tactical work. From Maubeuge to the Marne the squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps had been kept together under the immediate control of General Henderson. The experiment of detaching machines to report direct to the First and Second Corps worked well on the 6th of September, and Sir John French gave orders that this arrangement was to continue.