By the time of the Battle of the Marne 3rd and 5th Cavalry Brigades had been formed into "Gough's Command", an "ad hoc" cavalry force separate from Allenby's Cavalry Division. One man wrote: "It was all push, push, push with Goughie. But he was pushing the enemy as much as he was pushing us." Gough advanced to the Aisne on 12 September, although owing to Sir John French's having failed to organise "ad hoc" advance guards there was neither artillery to harass the Germans nor engineers to repair the bridges, which had been blown only an hour previously.