The battered 173rd Bde was not involved with the rest of the division in the First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, but was in the front line when the German Second Army launched the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux on 24 April. The battalion was attacked out of the mist by six German A7V tanks and fell back until they realised that the tanks were manoeuvring ineffectually, so they rallied at the company HQ line and then fell back slowly. They inflicted heavy casualties on the three following waves of German infantry, finally halting them at the Cachy Switch trench. 2/4th Bn's support company was almost cut off but also fought its way back to the Switch. An 18-pounder gun was manhandled to Lt-Col Dann's Bn HQ, where it drove back the remaining German tanks, A counter-attack the following day regained Villers-Bretonneux and most of the lost ground. The battalion's losses were 24 killed, 113 wounded and 203 missing.