The British attacks on intended to prepare the way for a big attack, combined with the French north of the Somme, failed due to disorganisation, lack of co-ordination by the British and French armies and the effectiveness of the German defence. On 24 July, Haig instructed Rawlinson to concentrate on the right flank of the Fourth Army and co-ordinate attacks with the French but to keep up the pressure, rather than delay to arrange larger attacks. Subsidiary operations were to be conducted on the rest of the Fourth Army front, to close up to the German second line, bringing the British line into a position favourable for another general attack. The French Sixth Army was reinforced by another corps on the north bank and captured documents were circulated, which revealed that the German defence had been instructed to occupy the front line with fewer troops and place units in echelon and depth for local counter-attacks, to exploit surprise and use engineers offensively.