inclusive to the railway in the Couillet Wood Valley & the 6th Division from the railway to in front of Ribecourt. The 29th Division to push through after the first objectives had been captured to seize Marcoing & Masnieres. It was a fine bold scheme and everyone was most optimistic about it. It was originally planned by Sir Julian Byng & approved by the Commander-in-Chief. The tanks had not been a success up to date except in some isolated cases & it was not known what they really could do over good ground. From demonstrations we had seen we were confident that they could get through any wire but we realized that their chief difficulty would be the keeping of direction & avoiding sunken roads with