Metz en Couture and the higher ground around Flesquières were 10 kilometers behind the British front line and doubts about the divisions in Gruppe Arras, despite the need for them to participate in the bigger operation, led to a compromise, in which an experimental deployment for the attack behind a smokescreen and a delay of the advance until after the attack by Gruppen Caudry and Busigny had taken effect were substituted for the original plan.