Brigadier-General John Davidson, Director of Operations at BEF HQ, submitted a memorandum on 1 August, urging caution on Haig and Gough. Davidson recommended that the preliminary operation by II Corps not be hurried; a full artillery preparation and a relief by fresh divisions should be completed before the operation; tired and depleted units had often failed in such attacks; two fresh divisions were sent to II Corps. Two or three clear days were needed for accurate artillery-fire especially as captured ground on the Gheluvelt plateau gave better observation and German maps revealed the positions of their machine-gun emplacements, which being small and well concealed, needed accurate fire by the artillery to destroy them. The capture of the black line from Inverness Copse north to Westhoek, would be insufficient to protect an advance from the Steenbeek further north and large German counter-attacks could be expected on the plateau, given that it was the German defensive point of main effort ().