in London, telling him that Haig needed to be subordinated to Nivelle for the offensive and that if necessary he would be replaced), and that he lacked the "honesty & truth" to remain Prime Minister. Haig claimed (3 March) that with the BEF spread more thinly by having recently taken over line to the south, German forces (they had recently added 300 battalions by more intensive mobilisation, and by withdrawing to the Hindenburg Line would later free up an extra 15–20 divisions (135 -180 battalions)) might be used to attack at Ypres and cut him off from the Channel Ports. The French assumed Haig was inventing this threat (possibly true – in the summer of 1917 Haig's staff confessed to MacDonogh of playing up such a threat to avoid cooperating with the French). Robertson, who had been sick in bed, wrote to Haig (3 March) that he did not trust Nivelle. He continued to lobby the War Cabinet ("it was very unpleasant to listen to" wrote Spears) of the folly of leaving the British Army under French control, passing on Haig's demand that he keep control of the British reserves, and advising that intelligence reports suggested preparations for large-scale German troop movements in Eastern Belgium. With War Cabinet opinion having turned against Lloyd George – who was also rebuked by the King – Robertson also then submitted a memorandum stating that the Calais Agreement was not to be a permanent arrangement, along with a "personal statement" so critical of Lloyd George that he refused to have it included in the minutes. The King and Esher also urged Haig and Robertson to come to an agreement with the government. At another conference in London (12–13 March) Lloyd George expressed the government's full support for Haig and stressed that the BEF must not be "mixed up with the French Army", and Haig and Nivelle met with Robertson and Lyautey to settle their differences. The status quo ante, by which British forces were allies rather than subordinates of the French, but Haig was expected to defer to French wishes as far as possible, was essentially restored. Nivelle Offensive Robertson later came out to Beauvais in March 1917 to demand that Wilson keep him fully informed of all developments. On a visit to the Italian Front in March 1917 Robertson was unimpressed by the "white faces and white hands" of many Italian officers, which