25th Division was now sent to a 'quiet' sector of the French front to recover and to absorb young recruits. It was in reserve for IX Corps, which was deployed along the Chemin des Dames ridge. Unfortunately, the division was once more placed exactly where the next phase of the German offensive would fall: the Third Battle of the Aisne. The attack on 27 May was not a surprise, and 7th Bde had been pushed forward to Guyencourt the night before to be closer to the Green Line behind the frontline divisions. The attack opened with the heaviest bombardment so far, which overwhelmed Allied artillery positions, HQs and communications, and isolated the forward troops. By noon the frontline British divisions (8th and 50th (Northumbrian)) had virtually disappeared, apart from scattered parties falling back to defend the Green Line; only 25th Division remained intact on this front. 7th Brigade was deployed along a line of redoubts from Bouffignereux to Hermonville, about back from the Green Line, but it knew nothing about the positions it was taking up. As the Germans worked their way forward in the early afternoon, 7th Bde was shifted left, where it had a better field of fire on a forward slope. 4th South Staffs formed the centre of the brigade's line in the partly-dug Green Line trenches. The brigade successfully held this line until about 17.30 when it was outflanked on the left. The two flank battalions fell back in diverging directions, creating a gap thinly held by 4th South Staffs supported by sappers and mortar crews. Pushing up the Bouffignereux valley the Germans entered Guyencourt and then Bouvancourt, over behind the Green Line. By 20.00 the survivors of 7th Bde and some stragglers had been pushed back to form some kind of line south of Bouvancourt with 21st Division. This line was attacked again next day, but most of the German army was pushing past on the left, where a hole had been torn in the Allied lines. There followed a long retreat, with the British troops of IX Corps forming the southern hinge of the great bulge forced into the French lines. The front began to stabilise on 31 May and the battle died away by 6 June.Blaxland, pp. 136–40.Edmonds, 1918, Vol III, pp. 5, 12, 31, 35, 46–50, 63–8, 73, 77–9, 107, 120–1, 126–30, 145, 157.
