308 headlam: developments in aetillery 



few more heavy guns and howitzers began to arrive, but by mid- 

 summer of 1915, we had only about 70 all told. The summer of 

 1916, however, saw this number increased just tenfold, while by 

 last summer it had been more than doubled again. How was this 

 done? In the first place by utilizing every gun, whether de- 

 signed for a fort or a ship, that we could lay hands on. The 

 mounting of such guns, for work in the field, either on railway 

 trucks or carriages, has given great scope for ingenuity, espe- 

 cially as the task has become more and more complicated by the 

 necessity for economy in metals and in skilled labor. But all 

 along the great consideration has been time, and this of course 

 has been especially true of new manufacture. It is to that ele- 

 ment of time that I would like to draw your special attention, 

 because it is one which, if you will pardon me for saying so, the 

 scientist is perhaps a little inclined to overlook. It is only nat- 

 ural that he should be absorbed in the perfecting of his design, 

 but the poor soldier facing the German can not wait for the fairy 

 tales of science and the long results of time, but wants something, 

 anything, and quickly, that will shoot. 



National efforts. And then Mr. Lloyd George, like a new Peter 

 the Hermit, led a crusade to stir up the people at large to the 

 manufacture of guns and shells. We perpetuated designs which 

 we knew to be out of date. We adopted, with our eyes open, 

 new designs which were in many points based on considerations 

 of facility of manufacture, rather than of perfection, and we 

 risked the omission of many of the regular stages of trial hitherto 

 considered essential. It was a gamble, but it was the only way 

 to get the numbers required, and it was justified by success. 

 In this connection I may perhaps mention a most remarkable 

 instance of adherence to antiquated pattern, in order to avoid 

 any delay to output, afforded by the Germans. The outbreak 

 of war found Germany, as I have already mentioned, with an 

 obsolescent field gun, but as I personally discovered in the battle 

 of the Somme, she directed all her energies, not to remedying its 

 defects, but to developing production. I happened by accident 

 to examine th^ two captured guns which were standing side 

 by side. One, No. 40, had been made twenty years before and 



