Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-11-07
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are to decide the present conflict in
Europe:
France thought differently in August
914. She believed. previous to this
war. that were she ever forced into
strife with Germany she could win by
The dash and courage of her army and
the strategical genius of her generals
Now she knows that modern battles
are not to be won by valor, nor by
genius. but by shells. And she has re-
versed. her tactics.
Fortunately the reversal, although it
came late, did not come too late. FOL
lowing the declaration of the moblilza-
ton of the French army, August l, 19l 4
an almost unbelievable thing happened
in France. The ammunition factories
with few exceptions. shut down. ne
few that remained in operation-and
they were but very few-decreased
their output Thus France entered
upon the most grueling, the most as
astrous conflict in the worlds history,
with her munitions industry reduced
almost to the vanishing point
And the reason? The reason is not
hard to find. All the workers in the
munitions factories were called away
to the army. For the men VINO ~ee
then directing Frances military oes-
TIMES honestly. believed, that by mo
bilizing every last able-bodied man III
the country, putting uniform OH Mo
back and a gun in his hand, they eouiu
march to meet the German hosts' en-
gage them in open combat and win ene
victory inside of two months, OF VIII"
in three at the very utmost
And. as Frances military powers De-
,;eyed so they commanded. The mo-
Utilization that they ordained forthwith
stripped the best men from every III
dustry the nation boosted. and II mace
no exception of the munitions rae
tories. .a
with a splendid array of light neio
gums. 900 enty-fve-milimeter can
non-but with a stock of ammunition
consisting of only 1,400 rounds Tor eaGn
one of these fieldpieces, a total OF ohiy
3. 500. 900 small caliber shells when IL
is considered that Germany, according
TO a recent statement made by Eng
lands minister of munitions, manu1ac-
lures each month 100000 shells OF
various calibers.- Frances pltl1ul weak
ness in this direction becomes at once
apparent
Insufficiently supplied with ammuni-
ton at the outset, she faced the even
greater handicap of being unable, be-
cause of the industrial paralyzatlon
caused by an 1nolscrinlna.e ihopiiila-
ton. to make up the deficiency or to
acquire an adequate, constant supply
for the future. Her industrial reserve,
desperately as she needed 1T, had been
disorganized and dispersed.
Alexandra Millerand, the present war
minister, did not enter the government
until August %, 1914, almost a month
after the harm had been done. At that
date the German armies under Won
Kluck were we'll on their way toward
Paris, and certainly not even the most
sanguine among Frances military
lights could find reason to believe any
longer that the war would be only a
matter of two or three months open
campaigning. The new war minister,
seeing clearly what was ahead, took
immediate stock of the industrial sit
uation and set about the arduous task
of reviving the munitions factories
He did not at first attempt to recall
the trained workers from the trenches.