The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-07-11
1894 u. S. Guns Made in "a Hours
Total Rife Production in This Country during the World War
was 2,506,307

Machine guns and small arms produced by the millions, ammun h u IL
out by the billions Of rounds and tanks built by thousands "Mn "t 49, nor
ended hosthtes, furnish the subject of chapters made puDhc " uN
departments history Of the material" side of winning the "a uu
The story of machine gun production, about whtchs uch a not "io'
or standard general use the Lewis weapon used succeSstuhy "or"' ="
as follows:
Up to November II the production of Browning rifles wa 522SS a ma
Jorny or which were. in France. In addition $4,000 Chauchat guns nu 80
purchased, Sc that enough light automatic rifles were N hand 70 supply ~"
divisions o. an army Of 100000 men. In the same time 41S4 heavy br r
ings and enough Vckers guns had been produced to make with the houchNlS
weapons purchased from the French a total of 54G27 Of this type or enough
to equip 200 divisions, IL an army of 100000. ,..
"At the peak of our production" the report says, "a total Of 174 machine
guns and automatic rifles of all types were produced within a pernu Oh -
hours" and the total production of machine guns in the United states between
April 6. 1917 and November. II, 1918, was 1s5039. as against 2@'25S produced
by the French and 49, 404 by the British in the same period.
Only the loyal cooperation Of the manufacturers with whom conpeNuIe
commercial advantages weighed not at all against the national need mad
possible this achievement the report states.
Other production struggles described in the chapters include items varying
in size from trench knives to the 45ton Mark VIII tanks of British design OF
which 1900 were being constructed in cooperation with the British and l'4oo
additionally wholly by American enterprise. only n Of these ha Deer u~
Hvered up to January ], 1918, but it is noted that the work On each program
on component parts was so per cent complete when the armlsticc vas signed
Orders for all but 100 Of these tanks have been cancelled.
On November II, Ga tanks of the French siXton 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 we're Cancelled, as we're orders for l5O15 hreetOn
tanks, 10 of which had been completed on November II.
The total rifle production in the United States from the beginning OF ne
war up to November o 1913, was 250G3o7, of which a little more than 100000
were Springfield rifles.
Considerable attention is devoted to the production Of automatic pistols
and revOlvers for the troops. In the Colt 40, the standard army automatic
developed as a result of Philippine experience by the army and which also was
an invention by Browning, the United States forces had a weapon WhNh All
Europe could lot match for efficiency in action and which brought terror to
the Germans when American troops reached the front
European countries failed to appreciate the value of a large calber, hard
hitting weapon of this type and the chief use Of pistols and revOlvers in
European armies had been as ornaments for officers uniforms, it is said, rather
than for active fighting.
1.-THE resut of EuOpeS neglect the report says, "a tht the small caHber
revolvers of the Germans and even Of the French and English were toys in
comparison ito the big Colts that slapped the thighs of American doughbOys"
The standard American army rifle ammunition proved its superiority in
action, adding materially to the accuracy of American small arms fire. Ex-
traordnary measures to produce cartridges in sufficient numbers are recounted
in the report, and in the fall of 1915 the United States achieved an average
monthly output of 2S,S52735 rounds, against a British average of 259769OO
and a French average of 139S45ON.