One and a half hours late, company-sized armed reconnaissance.
This means the French Army will not launch a main attack strong enough to genuinely attract a large number of enemy troops, but will indeed create a commotion, forming a certain sense of echo. If the Italians fight smoothly, the French Army can "expand on the results"; if the Italians hit a brick wall, the French Army also has ample reason to "not engage with the enemy main force and retreat according to plan".
Advance and retreat at will.
To put it nicely, it's like that, but to be direct, if you can't beat it, I'm going to retreat, don't say I'm running away.
Durand added, "Remind our artillery and aerial liaison officers to pay attention to the Italians' movements tomorrow morning. If they really run into tough resistance, call for support as appropriate. After all, we can laugh at our allies, but we can't let them lose too badly; that would make our entire coalition look incompetent."
