than form a defensive flank along the edge of Glencorse Wood. Twelve officers and 182 other ranks had been killed or wounded. The division was pulled out of the line the following day for reorganisation. Cambrai The casualties from the Ypres fighting were not replaced, and the whole division was numerically weak, companies in 1/4th Londons being reduced to just two effective platoons. 56th Division was given the task of making a demonstration with dummy tanks and figures on the flank of the great tank attack that opened the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November. The demonstration succeeded in attracting German defensive fire, though 1/4th Londons were in reserve behind the line. The battalion moved up early on 23 November to relieve the London Scottish, who were advancing into Tadpole Copse, and later in the day its companies were drawn into the fighting in the Hindenburg Line trenches with hand and rifle grenades and Lewis guns that lasted three days and cost the battalion 60 casualties before it was relieved and went to hold a quieter sector of the line. Due to manpower shortages the BEF disbanded one in four of its infantry battalions in February 1918: the 1/4th Bn received drafts from the disbanded 1/3rd Londons (167th Bde), 1/9th Londons (Queen Victoria's Rifles) (169th (3rd London) Brigade) and 2/1st Londons (58th (2/1st London) Division), enabling the battalion to reorganise with three platoons per company. Oppy Wood The German spring offensive opened on 21 March 1918 some miles south of 56th Division's positions outside Arras. The 1/4th Bn prepared a defensive flank facing south in case the line was turned, but no attack developed until 03.00 on 28 March (Operation Mars) when the battalion's outposts in Oppy Wood came under heavy bombardment. The two forward companies were overrun by 09.00, despite causing heavy casualties with their Lewis guns. The other two companies in the support trench (the Marquis line) then held the attackers while the defensive flank (Ouse Alley) was manned by details from Advanced Battalion HQ, and artillery fire was brought down on the captured outposts. By 11.30 the pressure on both flanks was too great, and the defenders withdrew to the Red Line (held by the London Scottish), having to go cross-country because Ouse Alley was cut behind them. The Red Line was not seriously attacked: despite the 1/4th Bn's sacrifice (19 killed, 45 wounded, 171 captured and