the assaulting forces were forced to retire after their initial gains were negated by German attacks on the division's flank. In early 1918, after the collapse of Tsarist Russia enabled a significant shift of German combat power from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, the Germans launched their Spring Offensive. The opening blows fell against the British in the Somme and as the offensive gained momentum, the Allies were pushed back significantly. With the vital rail head of Amiens threatened, the Australian units which had wintered in Belgium were brought south to the Somme to help stem the tide of the German advance. The 43rd Battalion subsequently undertook several defensive actions including one around Morlancourt. After the German offensive was halted, as the Allies sought to regain the initiative, they took part in the Battle of Hamel in July, where the battalion attacked in the centre of the 11th Brigade, tasked with securing the village itself. In August, the 43rd joined the Allied Hundred Days Offensive after which it took part in several attacks against the Hindenburg Line in the final months of the war. One of the battalion's last actions came at the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin in September 1918. For his actions during this battle Corporal Lawrence Weathers was awarded the Victoria Cross, the only member of the 43rd Battalion to be bestowed this honour, receiving it for attacking two German trenches with grenades during an assault on the Bouchavesnes Ridge on 2 September 1918. In early October 1918, the Australian Corps, which had suffered heavily during the fighting earlier in the year, was withdrawn from the line for rest and reorganisation and did not return to the front before the armistice was signed in November. After the war, the 43rd Battalion was disbanded in 1919 and its surviving personnel repatriated back to Australia. During the course of the war, the battalion suffered the following casualties: 386 killed and 1,321 wounded. Between June 1916 and March 1918, eight batches of reinforcements were dispatched to the 43rd Battalion from Australia. The 43rd Battalion's contribution to the Australian effort on the Western Front was recognised by the awarding of 15 battle honours in 1927. Inter-war years and subsequent service Australia's part-time military force, the Citizen Force, was reorganised in 1921 to perpetuate the numerical designations and divisional structure of the AIF. As a result, the 43rd Battalion was re-raised