with 3rd Bn taking the right sector. Much work had to be done to improve the 'line', which consisted of no more that isolated posts not yet connected up or wired in, and the work was hampered by frequent German shelling. The German Second Army launched the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux on 24 April. On 173rd Be's front the bombardment opened shortly before 04.00 and inflicted serious casualties. Supported by six A7V tanks and attacking out of the mist, the Gemans pushed the left flank of the brigade back from Hangard Wood, but 3rd Bn maintained its position round Hangard Village on the right, and the position was stabilised with the support of British tanks. A counter-attack that night restored the original line. Chipilly The battalion spent the summer of 1918 working on the defences in front of Amiens and alternating with 2/2nd and 8th Londons in tours of duty in the line. The Germans in front were now beginning to give ground, and the Allies prepared to go back to the offensive. For the opening attack of the Allied Hundred Days Offensive (the Battle of Amiens) on 8 August 1918, 174th Bde was given the initial objective of capturing Malard Wood, after which 173rd Bde would pass through to take the vital Chipilly Ridge overlooking a bend in the River Somme and flanking the battlefield. 3rd Londons led on the right of 173rd Bde's advance in 'artillery formation' through the German barrage that fell behind 174th Bde. In the morning mist the battalion drifted 500 yards left of its intended line through the gullies. At 08.30, as the leading companies reached the far edge of Malard Wood, the mist began to clear and the battalion was brought to a halt by machine gun fire across the valley in front and so dug in at the edge of the wood. Other battalions, coming up in support, were unable to renew the advance. The failure to take Chipilly Ridge resulted in heavy casualties to the troops to the left of 58th Division who were overlooked by this feature. The division therefore made a second attack on 9 August. 3rd Londons attacked on the right of 173rd Bde, from an assembly trench that turned out to be no more than a string of shell-holes, and behind a misdirected barrage. The supporting American battalion was not yet in line and the brigade was