the battered Hindenburg Line, and made some progress. Casualties were heavy during the operations of April and May, and included the commanding officer of the 20th Royal Fusiliers, Lt-Col L.F. Leader, who was wounded and succeeded by Lt-Col Modera, MC (Lt-Col Garnett, DSO, was now commanding 2nd Royal Welch Fusiliers in the same brigade). In the summer 33rd Division was transferred to Nieuport on the Flanders coast, where Fourth Army was intended to make an amphibious assault behind the enemy lines and advance up the coast in conjunction with the BEF's Flanders offensive (the Third Battle of Ypres). It arrived on 31 July and spent the next three weeks under shellfire – both high explosive and Mustard gas – and nightly air raids, as well as repelling one serious attack on 19th Bde, but by the end of August it was clear that the BEF was not going to achieve a clean breakthrough, and the units on the coast began to be sent to the Ypres Salient to reinforce the offensive there. Ypres Elements of the division went into the line in the Ypres sector during September, and then whole division moved up from reserve and was committed to the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September. But the division had to fight off a spoiling attack by the Germans the day before, so its own planned attack was dislocated and limited to recovering lost ground. In November 1917 the 33rd Division was moved to the north of Ypres to take over the Passchendaele Salient from the Canadians, and spent the winter months taking turns of duty in this, probably the worst area on the Western Front, a sea of mud with no cover, with appalling trackways to traverse to and from the line, and under persistent shellfire, particularly with mustard gas shells. Disbandment Like the 16th Middlesex, the 20th Royal Fusiliers was disbanded between 2 and 15 February 1918, when 19 officers and 520 ORs were posted to other battalions, and the remainder sent to VIII Corps' Reinforcement Camp. 28th and 29th (Reserve) Battalions, Royal Fusiliers When the four Royal Fusiliers Public Schools battalions went to Clipstone Camp their depot companies had remained at Epsom and in August 1915 these were formed into two reserve battalions: 28th (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers – from 1st and 2nd Public Schools 29th (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers – from 3rd and 4th Public