The Washington herald., 1916-01-16
Strategy on Land and Sea Will Have More Weight
In Ending Present War Than Anything; May Fight
Unusually Big Battles In Mediterranean Theater
LoydGeorge Of Shells and Rifles
Which Out
and Money Minor Subjects in This Strife Thinks Baderston


Western battle lines, sixteen guns, or
the average, to every battalion of 1000
men. The British army, at the begin
ming of the war, had two machine guns
70 each battalion, and It was not until
after Neuve Chapelle last March that
the British authorities awoke to the i'm
portance Of the weapon and took steps
to supply It in larger quantities
f, All last summer there were soldiers
\ Of the old school who clung to the be-
lief that the rife must remain the prin-
/ ctpal weapon in battle. If any one still
thinks SO, after the story of the ninety
4 men with machine guns who held out
against an army, this statement by the
minister for munitions should prove con-
| elusive: There is no doubt that this
| machine gun is by far the most destruc-
! tive weapon in the whole German army;
Il has destroyed far more lives than
their rifles. I am told that the machine
guns and artillery between them are
probably responsible for more than q
per cent Of the casualties, rifles being
responsible for not more than per cent.
Four New Factories.
Four new factories have been built
which are making machine guns and
| nothing else and at two other works i'm
1
machine guns are being turned out. Fig
ures are kept secret, but 1t Is announced
that 1ve times as many machine guns
are being made today as were built last
spring, and that our requirements are
well in sight of being fulfilled" This
means, presumably, that the German
standard Of sixteen guns to a battalion
will be equalled or exceeded, and the
recently organized rnachine-gun corps is
| sending to the front as fast as possible
men capable Of operating these delicate
guns.
The third problem OF output-the prob
! lem OF cannon-has resolved itself into
the construction as. rapidly as possible of
heavy guns There is no shortage in field
artillery, because it has not been pos
stble to furnish the guns already at the
'front.' with as many shells as their gun
| rers desire. And so the resources of
| the gunmakers are lavished on gigantic
howitzers. There are monsters coming
| into existence which bear the same re-
iauon TO the 2-centimetre guns that bat
| tered down the forts of Namur as does
the Queen Elizabeth to the original
Dreadnought And of all war secrets
In the British Islands the secrets of the
navy are the only ones guarded more
| carefully than those OF the new guns.
The government announced in the House
OF Commons: I'VE are erecting great
works In this country which are mostly
associated with the program for the pro-
duction of these guns and the supply of
, adequate proJectiles. We are making
| rapid progress with these structures -
And that is all the public has been per-
mitted to learn.
No Big Guns Ordered.
The present attitude of the munitions
ministry toward big guns is summed up
in the following statement: up to mid
summer OF this year big guns on a large
| scale had not been ordered. We came
rather late to the conclusion that on that
scale big guns were essential to the sue
| cessful prosecutions of the war The
Kind of gun which was regarded as a
| prodigy in the Boer war was Just a moor.
miserable medium gun. Now the soldiers
=, are doubtful whether It counts In the
least In trench warfare. The heavy siege
gun which we had at the beginning OF
\ the war Is now the lightest. Facts have
/ forced the conclusion on us that Il Is
/ only the very heaviest guns that will
enable us to demolish trenches, which are
getting deeper, with trench beyond
! trench, at every conceivable angle. There
1 are labyrinths of trenches with concrete
easements, and nothing but the most
powerful and shattering artillery will en-
able our men to advance AGAINST then,
| n
Therefore the war offfce came to the con-
! ciusion that II was essential to success
! and victory, and to the protection of the
| lives or our. soldiers, that we should have
an adequate equipment of the heaviest
possible artillery"
just as a chain Is no stronger than its
weakest link, so Is an army no more
eincleht IN war than the state OF eff
| cheney OF its weakest essential denart
ment. The shell, machine-gun and con-
non supplies have given trouble because
the allies have been relatively weaker
than the Germans in these departments
ana hence have been unable to win bat
Ties The supply of rifles. of small-arm
ammunition, of food, of khaki, of a thou
SAND other essentials is flowing smooth
ly, and will not be found wanting when
the big guns are ready to sneak
Interesting sideIight.
An interesting sidelight on the p,un,-
lions problem as 1t relates to America n
| industry is the fact, unguessed at tbp
| time, now admitted by LLOYD George
that America last spring was noanufac,
turing twice as much Ammunition, and
| twice as many rifles for Great Britain
as could be made at home. That propor-
ton mas now been entirely changed BY
Mr.. Lloyd George, who is giving orders
in the United States only for parts of
shells or guns of which there is a tenn
porary shortage here. England desires,
he explained, to leave the American mar.
ket as free as possible to fill orders for
| other allies" who have not Britain's
| manufacturing resources-by which he
| meant Russia. In the making of rifles
the British have taken a leaf from ths
book of an eminent Detroit pacinst and
other American automobile manufacture
ers. Separate factories are now making
| the parts for the army rifle, which are
all assembled at the Enfield plant. This
plan, new so far as rifles are concerned,
is stated by Mr.. Lloyd George to have
saved much time and money.
Doom for Germany.
The glimpse which has been given into
the workings Of Englands munition
plants, which are now employing nearly
100000 men and women, will indicate to
the reader that not even Germans SUPER
human Industrial efforts can keep her
output, with that Of Austria, level with
that of Britain, France, Russia, America
| and Japan. 1t is also certain that Ger
many has no more efficient reserves ex-
| cepting 10000 young men of the classes
of 1916 and 1917 and that strength of her
| a rrI1ias ia already WANING ,,h{Io D,.z4.