The Germans had dammed the river which flows down the Trinquis valley in front of the Twenty-second Corps, and this had now formed a considerable lake which hampered operations to the north. The Fresnes-Rouvroy line when tested by patrols seemed to be still strongly held. It soon became evident, however, that on the south the Germans had withdrawn behind the Canal du Nord. The Canadians on September 3 closed up to the western bank, occupying with little resistance Recourt and Baralle. During the day the First British Division relieved the Fourth British Division, while the Second and Third Canadians relieved respectively the First and Fourth Canadians. The Canal was found to be full, and all the bridges down, so that progress was for the time suspended, and a period of inaction followed, which was accompanied by a bad spell of boisterous weather, lasting for more than a week. During this time the First British Division was sent south to form part of the Ninth Corps on the extreme south of the line next to the French. The Fifty-sixth London Division took its place on the right of the Twenty-second Corps, and on September 19 it extended so as to take over the ground held by the Third Canadians, thus contracting the Canadians' front on that flank, while it was extended to the south, where it took over from the {148} Fifty-second Division on the left of the Seventeenth Corps. The Cambrai Road became the dividing line between the British and the Canadians. To preserve Horne's uniformity of treatment we shall now return to Rawlinson's Fourth Army in the south, and we shall carry each successive Army forward from the end of September to the date of the German surrender. {149} CHAPTER VI THE OPERATIONS OF RAWLINSON'S FOURTH ARMY From the Battle of the Hindenburg Line (September 29) to the Battle of the Selle, October 17 The first American operations--The rupture of the Hindenburg Line--Predicament of Twenty-Seventh American Division--Their gallant resistance--Great Australian attack--Remarkable feat by the Forty-Sixth North Midland Territorial Division--Exeunt the Third Corps and the Australians--Entrance of the Thirteenth Corps--Rupture of the Beaurevoir line--Advance to the Selle River.