It was initially commanded by General der Infanterie Günther Graf von Kirchbach, formerly President of the Military Tribunal.

[2] It was still in existence at the end of the war[3] in the 4th Army, Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht on the Western Front.

In general, Reserve Corps and Reserve Divisions were weaker than their active counterparts In summary, X Reserve Corps mobilised with 25 infantry battalions, 9 machine gun companies (54 machine guns), 6 cavalry squadrons, 12 field artillery batteries (72 guns) and 3 pioneer companies.

Despite its name, 2nd Guards Reserve Division was not formed by units drawn predominantly from the Guards Corps[10] but from II Corps District[11] (divisional cavalry), VII Corps District[12] (26th Reserve Infantry Brigade) and X Corps District[13] (38th Reserve Infantry Brigade, field artillery regiment and pioneers).

On mobilisation, X Reserve Corps was assigned to the 2nd Army as part of the right wing of the forces that invaded France and Belgium as part of the Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914.