Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1919-06-05
WAS TURN|NCOUT
GUNS BY MILLION
United States Producing Arms at
High Speed When Fight
ing Ended.
WORK OF WINNING THE war
History OF Rifle Production Shows
Great Record-Many Tanks Under
Construction When Armistice
Came-PistoIs Efficient

Washington, D. C.-Machine guns
and small arms produced by the mil
lions, ammunition turned out by the
billions of rounds and tanks built by
thousands when the armistice ended
hOStilitieS, furnish the subject of chap
tiers just made public of the war de-
partment's history of the material
side of winning the war.
In regard to machine gun production,
about which such hot controversy
waged in congress as result Of the
failure of the American army to adopt
for standard general use the Lewis
weapon used successfully abroad, the
report says manufacturing facilities
for machine guns in this country were
much more limited in extent than the
public had any notion of when the
United States entered the war or to-
day, and that there were at the out
break of the war only two factories
which were actually producing ma
chine guns in any quantity at all.
Dearth of Aircraft Guns.
The report says there was great
dearth of heavy machine guns for air.
craft work, to be synchronized with
propellers. The Browning aircraft gur>
would have met the requirements, but
it would be long time before it could
be produced in quantity. In seeking
a stop gap weapon until the Browning
could be ready, the ordnance depart
ment, by zone of those surprising and
almost accidental successes" some
times encountered, found that a modi-
fed Marlin gun which could be quick
ly produced met all requirements.
The work of the Brownings is de-
clared to have been spectacular as
compared with any existing weapons
Of this character. Up to November II
the production of Browning rifles was
52,238, a majority of which were in
France. In addition $4,000 Chauchat
guns had been purchased, so that
enough light automatic rifles were on
hand to supply 100 divisions, or an
army of 100000 men. In the same
time 41,8O4 heavy Brownings and
enough Vickers guns had been pro-
duced to make, with the HOtchkiss
weapons purchased from the French,
a total of 54,627 of this type, or
enough to equip 200 divisions, or an
army of 100000.
Other production struggles described
include items varying in size from
trench knives to the 45-ton Mark VIII
tanks of British design, of which 1,5OO
were being constructed in cooperation
with the British and 1,45O additional
wholly by American enterprise.
On November IL Ga tanks Of the
French six-ton type had been delivered
and by January 81 of this year POI,
OF these six were. shipped abroad.
Orders for 1000 Mark I light tanks
were cancelled as were orders for 49,
Obs three-ton tanks, Is of which had
been completed on November II.
The history of the rifle production.
including all of the considerable
which led to the adoption Of the stah
ardized British Enfield weapon for
American use, also is fully outlined
The department states that 1t sees nc
reason now to change it's view that the
wisest course was that which was fol-
lowed. The total rifle production in
the United States from the beginning
Of the war up to November 9, 1918
was 2,5O6307, of which little more
than 100000 were Springfield rifles.
Pistols Of U. S. Type Valuable.
Considerable attention is devoted tc
the production Of automatic pistols
and revOlvers for the troops. Euro
pean countries failed to appreciate the
value of a large caliber, hard-hitting
weapon Of the American type and. the
chief use of pistols and revolvers In
European armies had been as Orna-
ments for officers uniforms, It Is said,
rather than for active fighting.
With the standard army automatic
it is stated, "any average soldier with
average training can hit what he
shoots at. In almost the first skirmish
it proved its superior usefulness In
trench fighting. Such incidents as
that of the single American soldier
who dispersed or killed whole squad
Of German bayoneteers which had sur
rounded him struck the enemy with
fear of Yankee prowess with thu
pistol"