trap the German armoured spearheads at the end of the Somme valley, BEF GHQ ordered the 1st Armoured Division to advance, with such units as were available, without delay. Unbeknownst to the Allies, the "mangled remains of six panzer divisions" supposedly between the BEF and the Somme, was a force of ten panzer divisions which, by 23 May, were reinforced by several motorised infantry divisions. The latter had arrived and dug in on the Somme crossings, south of Amiens and Abbeville. The Allied commanders judged it vital for the British 1st Armoured Division to cross the Somme on the left of the French Seventh Army. The division was to advance on St Pol to cut off German forces around St Omer, to relieve the right flank of the BEF. Evans thought that the British division, arriving piecemeal, with the support group and an armoured regiment diverted to Calais, with no artillery and with the French Seventh Army unprepared, could not achieve such an ambitious objective but he had to try. Georges passed orders to the Swayne Mission, the British liaison organisation at GQG, that the 1st Armoured Division was to mop up the Germans south of Abbeville, while the Seventh Army crossed the Somme. Gort, at BEF GHQ, replied that he wanted the division to attack, not pursue small German forces. General Robert Altmayer, the commander of Group B, the left flank units of the Seventh Army, sent other orders that the division must cover the left flank of the Seventh Army, during its attack on Amiens. The Swayne Mission then confirmed that the division was not under the command of Altmayer and was to carry out the existing orders. Evans ordered the 2nd Armoured Brigade, the only part of the division available, to close up to the Somme that night. During the night of Evans was ordered by GHQ to co-operate with the French and wait in the existing positions. Georges had notified the Swayne Mission that the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was moving from the Saar and would join the 1st Armoured Division to cover the ground from Longpré to the coast. On 24 May, Georges had informed Antoine-Marie-Benoit Besson, the commander of , on the left flank of the Somme–Aisne line, that the 1st Armoured Division was to hold the line until the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division arrived, establish small bridgeheads and prepare the bridges for demolition.