were pursuing a beaten enemy. On the night of 4 July, the 18th (Eastern) Division took Marlboro' Wood unopposed but a combined attack by XX Corps and XIII Corps on 7 July, was postponed for after a German counter-attack on Favières Wood in the French area. The British attack began on 8 July at when a battalion advanced eastwards from Bernafay Wood and reached a small rise, where fire from German machine-guns and two field guns, caused many losses and stopped the advance, except for a bombing attack along Trônes Alley. A charge across the open was made by the survivors, who reached the wood and disappeared. The French 39th Division attacked at and took the south end of Maltz Horn Trench, as a battalion of the 30th Division attacked from La Briqueterie and took the north end. A second attack from Bernafay Wood at reached the south-eastern edge of Trônes Wood, despite many losses and dug in facing north. The 30th Division attacked again at on 9 July, after a forty-minute bombardment. The 90th Brigade on the right advanced from La Briqueterie up a sunken road, rushed Maltz Horn Farm and then bombed up Maltz Horn Trench, to the Guillemont track. An attack from Bernafay Wood intended for the same time, was delayed after the battalion lost direction in the rain and a gas bombardment and did not advance from the wood until The move into Trônes Wood was nearly unopposed, the battalion reached the eastern fringe at and sent patrols northwards. A German heavy artillery bombardment began at on an arc from Maurepas to Bazentin le Grand and as a counter-attack loomed, the British withdrew at to Bernafay Wood. The German counter-attack by the II Battalion, Infantry Regiment 182 from the fresh 123rd Division and parts of Reserve Infantry Regiment 38 and Reserve Infantry Regiment 51, was pressed from Maltz Horn Farm to the north end of the wood and reached the wood north of the Guillemont track. A British advance north from La Briqueterie at reached the south end of the wood and dug in from the south-western edge. Patrols northwards into the wood, found few Germans but had great difficulty in moving through undergrowth and fallen trees. At on 10 July, the British advanced in groups of twenty, many getting lost but some reached the northern tip of the wood and reported it empty of Germans.