Pembroke soon returned to France and the war. It is possible that he was personally requested to lead the campaign. He was, after all, the nearest thing to a member of the royal family, as well as the fact that to the Gascons at least, his previous efforts there had been looked on favourably. By this time the government too viewed Pembroke as a "military prodigy in the style of the 1330s." On 5 March 1372 he indentured with the King to serve in Aquitaine, to which end he was appointed Lieutenant of Aquitaine. Mark Ormrod has described the campaign as a minor one. This is because was accompanied only by his personal retinue of 160, in a fleet of "little more than a dozen small vessels protected by three larger ships with towers." His appointment was on 20 April, and he sailed to the Bay of Biscay in June with a fleet of reinforcements. Not only did he carry with him extra troops but also, intending to raise a larger force once in Aquitaine, he took £12,000 in silver coin to pay for it. Pembroke was instructed to recruit 500 knights, 1,500 esquires, and 1,000 archers. He was sailing, however, with an overly-small fleet (that was "gravely inadequate" commented James Sherborne) and which was, tactically, being despatched prematurely.