The Corps initially served on the Western Front with the Guards and 5th Cavalry Divisions and preceded the 3rd Army.

[1] By 15 September 1914, it was assigned to 2nd Army and comprised the Guards and 2nd Cavalry Divisions.

This culminated in them being redesignated as "General Commands for Special Use" Generalkommandos zur besonderen Verwendung (Genkdo z.b.V.).

[10] Initially, the Corps simply consisted of 2 Cavalry Divisions (with 3 Jäger battalions attached) without any Corps troops; in supply and administration matters, the Cavalry Divisions were entirely autonomous.

[11] On formation in August 1914, the Corps consisted of:[12] Each cavalry division consisted of 3 cavalry brigades (6 regiments each of 4 squadrons), a horse artillery Abteilung (3 four-gun batteries), a machine gun detachment (company size, 6 MGs), plus pioneers, signals and a motor vehicle column.