IV Corps along part of the line that had been captured during the Battle of Cambrai. The very next day, the Germans made a heavy counter-attack, and V Corps was forced to withdraw to the Flesquières Line. Order of Battle March 1918 GOC: Lt-Gen Sir Edward Fanshawe 12th (Eastern) Division (joined 25 March) 17th (Northern) Division 19th (Western) Division (to IV Corps 21 March) 47th (1/2nd London) Division 63rd (Royal Naval) Division The German March 1918 Offensive Although offering strong defences, the Flesquières position formed a dangerous salient in front of the British line. When the Germans opened their Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918, one of their first objects was to pinch it out. Accordingly, they did not attack frontally, but drenched the salient's defenders (2nd Division and 63rd (Royal Naval) Division) with mustard gas, causing many casualties in the days before the attack. On the evening of 21 March, unaware of the depth of the German penetration against the neighbouring Fifth Army, Third Army (Gen Sir Julian Byng) only ordered V Corps to withdraw 4000 yards to its intermediate defence line in the salient. In the following days, as the situation on the flanks deteriorated, Byng had to issue hasty orders to extricate V Corps from the trap. The Official Historian, Sir James Edmonds, wrote in 1932 that 'Byng the bungler was mainly responsible for clinging to the salient. I will exonerate Fanshawe, who is merely stupid'. Regardless of who was responsible, the setback at the Flesquières salient was nearly disastrous, and led to a dangerous gap opening up between Third and Fifth Army. V Corps attempted to form a defensive flank to Third Army, but the Germans penetrated the gap, and the corps withdrew again on 24 March. During this period (the First Battle of Bapaume,) V Corps' command structure descended into 'extraordinary confusion and lack of orders', according to a battalion commander. The withdrawal entailed a retreat across the devastated zone in front of the Hindenburg Line and the old Somme battlefields, and by the end of 26 March V Corps was back on the Ancre Heights, where the troops held off fresh Germans attacks on 27–28 March (First Battle of Arras (1918)) and 5 April (Battle of the Ancre (1918)). After the Flesquières fiasco, Byng insisted on Fanshawe being relieved of command. On 25 April, he was replaced as GOC of V Corps by Lt-Gen