Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-07-10
was TURNING OUT
Guns BY MILLION
United States Producing Arms at
High Speed When Fight
ing {. .dad.
WORK OF WINNING THE War
History Of Rifle Production Shows
Great Record--Many Tanks Under
Construction When Armistice
Camc-Pistols Efficient.

Washington. u. C-MHchine guns
and small arms produced by the mil
lions. ammunition turned out by the
billions OF rounds and tanks built by
thousands when the arinistice ended
hostlities, furnish the subject of chap.
ters just made public Of the war de-
partmcnt's history of the material
side OF w.nnin. the war.
In regard To machine gun rr"d''ction,
about Which such hot controversy
wagcd I'm congress as Il 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 lLOre limited in extent than the
public had any notion of when the
United States entered the war or to-
dry. and that there were at the out
break of the war only two factories
which were actually producing ma.
chine guns I'm any quantity at all.
Darth Of Aircraft Guns.
The report says there was great
dearth of heavy machine guns for air.
craft work. to be synchronized with
pr0pelIcrs The Browning aircraft gun
NOud have met the requirements, but
1t would he long time before 1t could
be produced in quantity. In seeking
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 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
52.23S. a majority ct which were In
Frame. In addition 10000 Chauchat
guns had been purchased, so that
enough light automatic rifles were on
hand to supply 100 divisions. or an
army of 3.500000 men. In the same
time 41S04 heavy BroWnings and
enough Vickers guhs had been pro-
duced to make, with the Hotchkiss
weapons purchased from the French,
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 Alton Mark VIII
tanks of British design. Of which 1900
We're being constructed In cooperation
with the British and 1.45O additional
wholly by American enterprise.
On November II Ga tanks Of the
French six-ton type had been delivered
and by January 81 of this year POI.
or these six were shipped abroad.
Orders for 1000 Mark light tanks
were cancelled as were orders for 15,-
O15 three-tOn tanks, Is of which had
been completed on November II.
The history of the rifle production,
Including all of the considerations
which led to the adoption of the stand
ardized British Enfield weapon for
American use, also Is fully outlined,
The department states that 1t sees no
reason now to change its 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 8, 1918,
was 2.5O6 BOT, Of which little more
than 100000 were Springfield rifles.
Pistols of U. S. Type Valuable.
Considerable attention is devoted to
the production of automatic pistols
and reviewers for the troops. Euro
pean countries failed to appreciate the
value of large caliber. hard-hitting
weapon of the American type and the
chief use of pistols and revolvers In
European armies had been as Orna-
monts for officers uniforms, 1t is said,
rather than for active fighting.
With the standard army automatic
i: 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
Il nch fi"hting. Such incidents as
that of the single American soldier
who dispersed or killed whole squad
Of German bayonetcers which had sur
rounded him struck the enemy with
fear of Yankee pr@wess with the
pistol"
ro nrnIul n Hnnrr7 nAI RNE