MUNITIONS 



5587 



MUNITIONS 



rr opened. Kail- 

 were run directly on 

 in ferric*, taken across to 

 without unloading, run on 

 there and carried straight 

 tn t !nn destination. 



Tin \\urk of the ministry 

 I much more than produc- 

 tion Lord Moulton turned his own 

 In .me into a state department for 

 tin- improvement of explosives. 

 uiic, under the ministry, 



neral :.f explosives, and 



a vast clicmieal research depart- 

 ment \\a< i-ieate'l. New propellants 

 were evolved and vast plants were 

 I for the production of nitric, 

 Hiilphiirir. ami picric acids and 

 .iiiri'i'iiiiiMi nitrate. National in 

 dust lies not at first apparently 

 diiretly connected with the war, 

 like soap-making and dye pro- 

 duet ion, had to he directed in 

 order that they should yield the 

 ma \iiiium amount of necessary 

 chemicals, such as glycerine, for 

 war service. When poiaon gas 

 was introduced by the Germans 

 the chemists had not only to pro- 

 vide protection for their own men 

 : the German gas, but to 

 supply the army with still more 

 efleet ivc and destructive gases in 

 reply, which they did. They pro- 

 duced the best gas mask and the 

 most fatal gases known. 



The Coining of the Tank 



Old weapons were improved 

 and enlarged and new ones in- 

 vented. Guns were built bigger and 

 bigger until at last an 18-in. gun 

 was evolved; weighing 152 tons 

 and firing projectiles of 3,320 Ib. 

 The supply of machine guns was 

 enormously increased ; the older 

 type, such as the Maxim-Norden- 

 fekit, being supplemented by 

 lighter kinds, notably the Lewis. 

 Wonderful trench guns were 

 evolved, of which the Stokes, in- 

 vented by a, civilian, was a striking 

 example. Tanks were built so 

 secretly that the Germans were 

 taken completely by surprise when 

 they were first used at the battle 

 of the Somrae. The first types 

 were clumsy and slow, but they 

 were rapidly improved ; towards 

 the end of the war Britain' was 

 building whippet tanks guided by 

 one man, that could travel at 8 m. 

 an hour. The tanks did great 

 service in helping the armies to 

 break through the Hindenburg line 

 and other German defences. In 

 the manufacture of aeroplanes 

 Britain made up for early deficien- 

 eies mire the work was seriously 

 undertaken, and in the end estab- 

 lished command of the air. 



Tlii 1 British munition depart- 

 ments were soon manufacturing 

 vast iuantities for the Allies as 

 well as Britain's own armies. The 



production of guns and shells had 

 reached such a point that it watt 

 possible to make up all losses at 

 tin- front and to keep the guns 

 -'i|i|i!ii-i| uitli munitions in ijiian 

 t it ii - never dreamed of before. In 

 Mar. -April, 1918, during the Ger- 

 man offensive, the British armies 

 lost 1,000 guns, vast quantities of 

 l>iif u'lin ammunition, 4,000 machine 

 guns, 200,000 rifles, 250,000,000 

 rounds of small arms ammuni- 

 tion, 700 trench mortars, and 200 

 tanks. Within a fortnight every 

 loss was replaced, in many cases 

 with superior weapons. 



In Aug., 1918, when the final 

 British offensive began, the guns 

 fired 2,900,000 rounds a week. By 

 Oct. this had increased to 

 3,500,000 rounds. On the day 

 the British army broke the Hinden- 

 burc line the guna fired 943,837 

 shells, or more than were fired 

 throughout the whole 8f the South 

 African war. It was able to keep 

 such a continuous and devastating 

 fire on the German positions that 

 the spirit of the enemy soldiers 

 was broken. Every gun had all 

 the shells that it wanted. Imme- 

 diately any gun showed any sign 

 of wear it was quickly taken back- 

 to England for repair and a new 

 one was ready to replace it. 



The total production of the 

 ministry of munitions during the 

 war was : 



The total expenditure of the 

 ministry from the commencement 

 to 1919-20 waa 2,019,507,941. 



The work in the United Kingdom 

 was helped by other part* of the 

 Empire. Canada in particular 

 rivalled the effort* of its troops in 

 the field by the work of its muni- 

 tion factories. In four years thexe 

 produced 60,000,000 shells, and 

 100,000,000 Ib. of high grade ex- 

 plosives, 350,000 people being em- 

 ployed in the Dominion producing 

 war material, and in the latter half 

 of 1917 15 p.c. of the total expen- 

 diture of the ministry went there. 



The U.S.A. produced munitions 

 of all kinds for the Allies in gigan- 

 tic quantities. The Dupont pow- 

 der works claimed at one time that 

 they made 45 p.c. of the high ex- 

 plosives used by the Allied armies. 

 When the U.S.A. entered the war 

 in 1917 this production was nation- 

 alised and systematised. See The 

 Great Munition Feat, 1914-18, 

 G. A. B. Dewar, 1921. 



Munitions, MINISTBY OF. Gov- 

 ernment department established 

 June 9, 1915, to expedite and con- 

 trol the production of munitions 

 of war. It continued in existence 

 until Mar. 31, 1921. The minister 

 the first appointed being D. 

 Lloyd George ranked as a secre- 

 tary of State, Avas a member of the 

 cabinet, and received a salary of 

 5,000 a year. He was assisted by 



i.'u MS (new) .. 

 (inns (repaired) 

 Machine Guns . . 



25,430 



9,170 



239,850 



Rifles 3,954,200 



Aeroplanes 52,000 



Ammunition !un rounds) 162,553,800 



In addition Britain supplied 

 4,134 m. of broad gauge and 2,745 

 m. of narrow gauge railroad track ; 

 3,333 locomotives, and 77,724 rail- 

 way wagons. The anti-aircraft 

 guns at the end of the war were 

 firing 5 m. into the air, and Zeppe- 

 lin raiders were attacked with 

 special chemical bullets which set 

 the enemy aircraft afire. Within 

 three years the production of poison 

 gas was increased from five tons 

 to about 720 tons weekly. 



The way in which the produc- 

 tion rose can be judged by a com- 

 parison between the output in the 

 3rd quarter of 1915 and a similar 

 period in 1918. 



a parliamentary secretary and a 

 large paid staff, and also in an un- 

 paid capacity by a number of busi- 

 ness men. The department at- 

 tained an enormous size, and several 

 large buildings in London, includ- 

 ing the Hotel Metropole, were 

 taken over to house.it. It chief 

 departments were concerned with 

 the supply of labour to factories, 

 and the output of munitions and 

 explosives. It had also a trench 

 warfare supply department and an 

 inventions department. Its in- 

 spectors supervised " controlled 

 establishments " set up all over 

 the country. There was a depart- 

 ment with similar duties in France. 



Guns : 



Light 



Medium 



Heavy 



Machine Guns 



Rifles 



Aeroplanes 



Aeroplane Engines 



Ammunition (artillery rounds). . 

 ,, (small arm rounds). . 



Propellants (tons) 



High Explosives (tons) . . 



1915 

 (3rd Qr.) 



903 



195 



20 



1,719 



176,239 



707 



458 



2,083,000 

 - 



10,470 

 3,300 



1918 

 (3rd Qr.) 



1,949 



437 



678 



33,507 



287,755 



8,503 



7,628 



15,780,000 



746,000,000 



43,691 



15,816 



