into reserve. The division returned to the line for the Second Battle of Passchendaele. 2/3rd and 2/2nd Bns Londons were detailed to capture and consolidate the first objective, then after 45 minutes the 2/4th Bn would leap-frog through and take 173rd Bde's second objective. But as the division arrived, the weather broke, and the pre-battle assembly in the Poelcapelle area was extraordinarily difficult. The battalion was then forced to jump off at 05.30 on 26 October from a line of flooded craters under enemy shellfire and struggle forward behind a weak barrage that advanced too quickly. The exhausted men, with hardly a rifle able to fire because of the mud, got no closer than 250 yards from their objective at Spider Crossroads before being pushed back to their start line by a counter-attack at 07.20. The withdrawal of 2/3rd Bn exposed the flank of 2/2nd Bn, who were also forced to withdraw from all but one objective. The battalion's CO, Lt-Col P.W. Beresford, was killed, and at the end of the day the frontline strength of the 2/3rd Bn was just two officers and 17 men. The 58th Division remained at Poelcappelle to hold the line during November and December before it was transferred to the south in January 1918. Here, it spent time digging defences, converting former French positions into the newly devised defences in depth. At the end of January 1918, the battalion absorbed drafts from the disbanded 2/1st Bn in 173rd Bde and 1/3rd Bn from 56th Division and became simply the 3rd Londons (see above). Spring Offensive When the German spring offensive opened on 21 March 1918, 58th Division was positioned astride the River Oise with 173rd Bde north of the river at La Fère. It was covering a wide frontage of about 5000 yards with 3rd Londons in reserve at Viry-Noureuil. General Oskar von Hutier directed four German divisions under Von Gayl against this front. The German attack developed behind a heavy bombardment and shrouded by mist, using infiltration tactics. The battalion sent a company up to support the 2/4th Londons at Fargniers in the Battle Zone, while the rest of the battalion patrolled and tried to make contact with the 2/2nd Bn in the Forward Zone. By midday, the Germans had cleared the Forward Zone, but several of the strongpoints in the Battle Zone held out. The company at Fargniers was ordered to counter-attack,