Page:Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1914.djvu/13



the original edition was compiled in 1920-21, the battlefields of 1914 have been visited by many parties of British officers, and much interesting information has been elicited on the ground. The volumes of the French and German official histories dealing with the period, besides numerous regimental histories, French, German and British, have been issued. It was therefore thought desirable to carry out a thorough revision of the text, particularly as the portions of the original dealing with the French and German forces had been pieced together from various unofficial books, and were by no means complete. The maps and sketches have been revised accordingly, and some new ones added, notably a layered map of the Marne battlefield. No such revision of the other published volumes of the history will be necessary.

The opportunity has been taken to give in greater detail the information obtained during open warfare by the Royal Flying Corps ; for in the first volume of the official history "The War in the Air," the late Sir Walter Raleigh did not include sufficient for the purposes of military study. Further particulars also have been given of the destruction of bridges during the retreat: the work of collecting information from survivors was undertaken by Major-General Sir Reginald Buckland, Chief Engineer of the Fourth Army of the B.E.F., and occupied him two years — which gives some idea of the labour involved in this kind of work. A summary of his investigations was published in the Journal of the Royal Engineers.

J. E. E.
 * August 1933.