During the following days, persistent rains prevented any further operations. Infantry actions were now succeeded by continuous bombardments on both sides, and by isolated raids. =Third Phase= (_September 20--October 3, 1917._) On September 20 a fresh offensive was begun along the whole front from Langemarck to the Ypres-Menin Road, a distance of eight miles. The part assigned for the French troops under General Anthoine was merely to protect the left wing of the British Army which, pivoting on Hollebeke, was to wheel and advance its marching wing in a direction at right-angles to the Zonnebeke-Gheluvelt line. All the objectives were attained at an early hour. Inverness Wood, which had been hotly disputed for the six previous weeks, was taken by the London troops. The Australians retook by assault Glencorse Wood--lost a few days before--and Nonnes Wood. The Scottish and South African Brigades captured the fortified farms of Vampire and Borry, and the Potsdam and Anzac Redoubts. Lancashire Territorials carried Iberian Farm and next day (the 21st) Gallipoli Farm. The British then attacked the second German lines. On the right the Territorials[1] fought violent engagements to the north of the bend in the Ypres-Comines Canal, near Klein Zillebeke, and in the vicinity of the position known as Tower Hamlet. In the centre, progress was more important. The ground hereabouts rises in a small plateau about 220 feet in height, which dominates the whole battlefield and extends in two long spurs: one running north-east towards Zonnebeke, the other southwards towards Menin. The Germans had fortified these positions very strongly and withdrawn their main line of defence to the eastern edge of the plateau, _i.e._ opposite the side by which the enemy must attack. This line protected the village of Zevenkote and the western edge of Polygone Wood, leaving in front the woods of Nonnes, Glencorse and Inverness, and Herenthage Park, the eastern edge of which latter it followed. The woods were strongly fortified, and the British had twice previously (July 31 and August 16) vainly endeavoured to capture them. It was the Northern troops and the Australians who carried these positions, advancing to a depth of 1,700 yards and taking Veldhoek and the western part of Polygone Wood--the principal centre of the German resistance. Further north, Zevenkote was captured and the London Territorials, supported by the Highlanders, seized a second line of farms. In the evening of September 20, the front ran approximately as follows: from Rose Farm (700 yards west of Poelcappelle) to Fokker Farm (on the eastern edges of Zevenkote); across the western part of Polygone Wood--including Veldhoek--then to the east of Herenthage Château, and ending at Hollebeke. The Germans, in their costly and unsuccessful efforts to retake the lost positions, suffered exceedingly heavy losses, without gaining any advantage.