Note 33 — THE OPERATIONS OF THE FOURTH ARMY FROM 20th OCTOBER TO 31st OCTOBER 1914

Throughout this narrative it is astonishing to read of the repeated reinforcements which Sir John French received. Actually, except for a few drafts, no reinforcements joined the British in the Ypres salient before the end of October: subsequently two Territorial battalions, the Hertfordshires and the London Scottish, two Yeomanry regiments, the North Somersets and the Leicestershires, and the 3rd Dragoon Guards, the belated last unit of the 3rd Cavalry Division, were added to the force, while the exhausted infantry of the 7th Division were replaced by three composite brigades from the II Corps, set free after three weeks of strenuous fighting near La Bassée by the arrival of the Meerut Division, and greatly below strength.