[16] ‘Armée’ in the original, but this is no doubt a misprint.
[17] This statement as to Sir J. French’s intentions is inaccurate. The II and III Corps were ordered to stand on the defensive, but the orders issued to the I Corps on 20th October were for an attack.
[18] Between Armentières and the sea the British had only the I Corps, less than half the III Corps, the Cavalry Corps, the IV Corps (composed of one Division only), the French had a weak Cavalry Corps and two Territorial Divisions, the six Belgian Divisions were reduced to about one half of their establishment, so that the claim that the Allied forces outnumbered the Germans is hardly tenable. The value of the statement that ‘the relative strength of the opposing forces never appreciably altered in our favour’ will become apparent as the book is read, and as it is shown that the same British units, reinforced only by a weak composite Division drawn from the II Corps, were attacked by a succession of fresh German Corps, that the same units who repulsed the attacks at Langemarck on 23rd October, were in line at Gheluvelt on 31st October when the Prussian Guard attacked on 11th November. See also [Introduction].
[19] ‘The heights of St. Eloi’ is a phrase which suggests that the author cannot have visited the ground nor studied a contoured map of the area round Ypres.
[20] The British and French in Belgium were hardly in their own country.
[21] British torpedo boats do not carry ‘heavy artillery.’
[22] The vessels described as flat-bottomed boats were presumably the Monitors ‘Severn,’ ‘Humber,’ and ‘Mersey.’
[23] This narrative omits the advance of the 7th Division on Menin, 19th October, which was going well when it had to be suspended on account of the threatening advance of strong German columns from the eastward. The division was skilfully extricated and fell back to the line Kruseik-Noordwesthoek-Broodseinde-Zonnebeke, the Germans failing to press their pursuit.
[24] The constant exaggeration by this narrative of the strength of very hastily constructed British trenches is a noteworthy feature.
[25] There were no British heavy batteries in this quarter, unless it is to the guns of Rear-Admiral Hood’s squadron that reference is made.