It may be as well to point out that the 'volunteers' who it is said flocked to the barracks to form the Reserve Corps XXII to XXVII were not all volunteers in our sense of the word. The General Staff only claims that 75 per cent. were untrained, a very different state of affairs from our New Armies, which had not 1 per cent. of trained soldiers. Many of the 'volunteers' were fully trained men liable to service, who merely anticipated their recall to the colours. It was well known before the war that in each army corps area Germany intended to form one 'Active' Corps and one or more 'Reserve' Corps. The original armies of invasion all contained Reserve Corps notably the IV Reserve of von Kluck's Army, which marched and fought just as the active ones did. These first formed Reserve Corps were, it is believed, entirely made up of trained men, but those with the higher numbers XXII, XXIII, XXVI and XXVII, which appear in the Fourth Army, probably did contain a good percentage of men untrained before the war. _Ersatz_ divisions were formed of the balance of reservists after the Reserve divisions had been organised, and of untrained men liable for service. After a time the words 'Active,' 'Reserve,' and '_Ersatz_' applied to formations lost their significance, as the same classes of men were to be found in all of them. No attempt has been made to tone down the author's patriotic sentiments and occasional lapses from good taste; the general nature of the narrative is too satisfactory to the British Army to make any omissions necessary when presenting it to the British public. The footnotes deal with a number of the more important points raised, but are not exhaustive. * * * * * _Note._--The German time, at the period of the year in question one hour earlier than ours, has been adhered to. The Notes of the Historical Section are distinguished from those of the Author by being printed in italics. In preparing the translation for issue it has not been thought necessary to supply all the maps provided in the original, as the general lie of the country must be fairly well known to British readers. (_Translation of Title Page_) Monographs on the Great War THE BATTLE ON THE YSER AND OF YPRES IN THE AUTUMN 1914 (DIE SCHLACHT AN DER YSER UND BEI YPERN IM HERBST 1914) FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE GERMAN GENERAL STAFF OLDENBURG, 1918, GERHARD STALLING PREFACE BY GERMAN GREAT HEADQUARTERS