8 July The 23rd Division was ordered to bomb forward towards Contalmaison and close a gap between the 24th and 68th brigades but trenches were so full of mud that many men were stranded and had to be pulled out. Patrols towards Contalmaison and Bailiff Wood found them still occupied, despite reports that they had been abandoned and the 24th Brigade attacked the village in the evening with the companies which had suffered the fewest casualties the day before. The attack was repulsed by machine-gun fire and artillery-fire; a battalion trying to advance from Peake Woods, midway between Shelter Wood and the village, to join with the 68th Brigade, was also defeated. Another 3 Squadron aircraft was aloft to watch the attacks and reported that when the British barrage began rockets were fired from the German trenches, which brought forth from German artillery batteries a wall of fire from Bottom Wood to Bailiff Wood, west of Contalmaison. The crew flew behind the German barrage and saw no German troops in Quadrangle Trench until when men in field grey suddenly appeared to a traverse and repulsed the attack. IR 183 was ordered to attack III at midnight but the rain delayed preparations and the attack eventually began at after dawn had broken. Observers of the 34th Division saw the Germans and directed artillery and machine-gun fire on the attackers, preventing them from advancing. 9 July On 9 July, the 24th and 68th Brigades of the 23rd Division spent the morning trying to improve their positions south and west of Contalmaison, ready for a bigger attack by the 69th Brigade on 10 July. Indications of a German counter-attack from the village were followed by bombardment of the 68th Brigade front, which caused many casualties since the trenches were shallow and crowded with men. A German attack was rapidly dispersed by small arms and artillery fire. A battalion of the 24th Brigade established a machine-gun nest in a commanding position south of the village and patrols of a 68th Brigade battalion entered Bailiff Wood, before being shelled out by British artillery. An attempt to return at was forestalled by a German counter-attack by parts of II Battalion and III Battalion, IR 183 of the 183rd Division at to reinforce the line between Contalmaison and Pozières but was repulsed with many casualties. The preliminary bombardment had been fired but when the delayed attack began