The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

13
New Appointments
MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY POWNALL, Chief of Staff of the BEF, reckoned that
19 May was the most worrying day they had had yet. Very early that
morning, accompanied by Major Osmund Archdale, liaison officer at
French 1st Army Group, Général Gaston Billotte had come to see the
British. The French commander was particularly downbeat. On the way
over he repeatedly told Archdale, ‘I am exhausted and against these
German panzers I can do nothing.’ When Gort had asked him what he could
do to rectify the situation, Billotte had replied that he had ‘no reserves, no
plan, and little hope’.
Gort had tried to remain bullish over the previous few days, but
Billotte’s visit had shattered such optimism. As the morning wore on,
liaison officers had arrived at Command HQ at Wahagnies reporting that the
French had nothing left, that they were falling back, had disappeared or had
given up the ghost. ‘It seemed,’ jotted Pownall, ‘that there was a complete
void on our right with only a disorganized mass of fag-ends from the First
Army to fill it.’ This was an enormous problem, because the BEF was now
falling back to the River Escaut, as planned, but with no French right, it
meant the British southern – or right – flank would have to be protected,
otherwise the Germans could skirt around and attack them from behind.
Gort and Pownall managed to move 50th Division south to deploy along La
Bassée Canal, which ran roughly west–east along their flank, and had
already created a scratch force of brigade strength hastily cobbled together
under Major-General Noel Mason-MacFarlane – the Director of Military
Intelligence at GHQ rather than a field commander – called ‘Macforce’ and
sent to cover the River Scarpe east of Arras.
Nonetheless, there was no getting around the problem that a huge gap
was now developing between the British and remaining French units in the
north and the French forces to the south of the River Somme. Maybe, if
they managed to buck themselves up in lightning-quick time, the gap could
be closed. But what if it couldn’t? It was something Gort and Pownall had
to consider and as far as they could see there was only one viable option