FURTHER NARRATIVE OF CONTALMAISON BATTLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16282, 15 July 1916, Page 7

FURTHER NARRATIVE OF CONTALMAISON BATTLE.

BRAVERY OF FOUR BRITISH ATTACKING COLUMNS. CHATTER OF MACHINE-GUNS CONTINUES ALL NIGHT. Australian and X.Z. Cable. (Received 7 p.m.) LONDON". July 13. The following despatch from Mr. Philip Gibbs, in continuation of his narrative of the capture of Contalmaison by the British, has been published :— '"The battle of the woods raged round Contalmaison. Its chief characteristic was the determined effort of the British to take and hold the copses and small forests between the first and second German lines. " The British successes at Contalmaison were largely due to progress attacks on the woods to the right and left. These were nicknamed. the ' bailiff wood' and ' pearl abbey.' Four attacking columns stumbled forward carrying bags, rifles, bombs, and machine-guns, and covered with muddy slime. Both luck and the weather were against these gallant battalions. Despite enfilading machine-gun fire from the ' bailiff' and Mametz woods, they penetrated deeply into Contalmaison. They were compelled to withdraw until supplementary attacks gave them the opportunity of completing the occupation. "Mametz Wood became a place of terror on Monday. The Germans were crouching behind gnarled roots with bombs and machineguns. Our guns progressively barraging the enemy's line with waves of high explosives then swept forward, the infantry following in short, sharp rushes. Some, in their eagerness advanced over-far. The horrible chatter of the machine-guns continued all night. It was a night the men may well look back upon throughout their lifetime with wonderment that dawn came. "The infantry at daybreak went across magnificently, and within two hours occupied the whole of Contalmaison. Fierce hatred was exhibited in the hand-to-hand fighting. The British killed two hundred Germans who refused to surrender."