second line in a semicircle extended around the wood north and east,
and as the covert was heavy, organized movement was impossible while
the German artillery had free play.

The British, however, continued to advance slowly and stubbornly from
the southern point where they had obtained a foothold, but it was not
until the fire of the German guns had been diverted by pressure
elsewhere that they were able to make any appreciable gains on their
way northward.

On July 9, 1916, at 8 o'clock the Germans launched desperate
counterattacks directed from the east to the southeast. The first
failed; the second succeeded in landing them in the southern part of
the wood, but they were ultimately repulsed with heavy losses. During
the night there was a fresh German attack strongly delivered that was
broken by British fire. Of the six counterattacks delivered by the
Germans between Sunday night and Monday afternoon, July 9-10, 1916,
the last enabled them to gain some ground in the wood, but it was at
a heavy cost. They did not long enjoy even this small success, for on
Tuesday, July 11, 1916, the British had recaptured the entire wood
excepting a small portion in the extreme northern corner.

On the same date the British advanced to the north end of Mametz Wood,
and by evening of July 12, 1916, had captured virtually the whole of
it, gathering in some hundreds of German prisoners in the operation.
The place had not been easily won, for while the whole wood did not
comprise more than two hundred acres or so, there was a perfect
network of trenches and apparently miles of barbed-wire entanglements,
while machine guns were everywhere. It was only after the British
succeeded in clearing out machine-gun positions on the north side, and
enfiladed every advance, that they were able to get through the wood
and to face at last the main German second position. This ran, as will
have been noted, from Pozieres through the Bazentins and Longueval to
Guillemont. The capture of Contalmaison was a necessary preliminary to
the next stage of the British advance. After the fall of this place
Sir Douglas Haig issued a summary of the first of the gains made by
the Allies since the beginning of the offensive:

"After ten days and nights of continuous fighting our troops have
completed the methodical capture of the whole of the enemy's first
system of defense on a front of 14,000 yards. This system of defense
consisted of numerous and continuous line