Hill 144, to the east of D Company. Company C was in reserve near Hill 314, overlooking battalion headquarters (HQ) and Support Company at Solma-Ri. The battalion's second-in-command, Major Digby Grist, was with rear headquarters ("F echelon") some behind, on route Five Yankee (5Y) to Seoul. There was a gap between the Glosters and the 1st Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers on their right, and on their left the 12th Regiment of the South Korean (ROK) 1st Infantry Division was away. After nightfall on 22 April, the Chinese launched the Spring Offensive, the first phase of which was designed to eliminate the US 3rd Division, the 29th Brigade and the ROK 1st Division. Success would allow them to attack the US 24th and 25th Divisions in the flank and leave the way open to Seoul. Against the four battalions of the 29th Brigade the Chinese had amassed the 63rd Army, comprising the 187th, 188th and 189th Divisions; some 27,000 men in 27 infantry battalions. First night – attacks on A and D Companies and the F echelon At 22:00, a 17-man patrol from C Company in position on the river bank, supported by the guns of the 45th Field Regiment, engaged the leading Chinese troops three times as they attempted to cross the ford. The patrol withdrew without loss when it began to run out of ammunition, and the assaulting troops finally gained the opposite bank. During the night, the Glosters' forward companies were attacked, and by 07:30, A Company, outnumbered six to one, had been forced from Castle Hill. An attempt to retake it failed, and the company, now at less than half strength and with all officers killed or wounded, fell back to Hill 235. The withdrawal left D Company's position exposed and, with one of its platoons badly mauled in the overnight fighting, it too retired to the hill. Company B had not been pressed during the night, but the withdrawal of D Company on its left and the Fusiliers on its right left the company exposed, and it fell back to Hill 314, east of C Company. In the afternoon, Major Grist was with the battalion HQ during a lull in the fighting, having come up with supplies, when news came through of an attack on the F echelon position. He drove back along route 5Y, through an ambush and past a group of F echelon troops