Evening star., 1921-10-24
CHAPTER VIII.
SHELLS: SHELLS! SHELLS!!.

Sft
The story of this prodigious effort
has never been written. We had. in
1914. 1896 pieces CT 75. De-
spite loss and destruction. We had
heavy artillery. the supply rose from
2SS pieces in 1914 to 5.471 in 1915.
In other words, We increased our field
artillery - per cent and our heavy
artillery by 1.943 per cent. One-tenth
of this latter increase was obtained
by reconstruction of old pieces. nine
tenths by new construction. All our
artillery combined in 1914 had less
than five million shells. The monthly
output at the end of the war exceeded
nine millions
So much for round figures. Now for
details. In 1914. the production
of 75s was negligible and there
was no regular service of repair. In
| October, 1918, our workshops We're
turning out. for this calber alone.
$50 new tubeS~and 573 repaired, 594
new brakes and 1875 repaired. 267 new
| carriages and ia repaired. To these
must be added shells, more shells and
even more shells The battle of
Champagne and Artois in 1915, last
ing two months. cost US seven and a
half million 75 shells-an average of
121 900 q day. The battle of Ferdun
and the Somme in 1916-lasting ten
1uonthS-cost us more than forty
three million 10 shells-an average
of $4,000 = day. The offensive of 1918.
lasting four months. cost us nearly
1hirty-three million shells. an aver
age of 212,500 day We met this
increasing expenditure.
Output Rises to 10000 Daily.
The output of 75 shells at the
beginning of the war was theo-
retically 1900 a day-as a matter of
fact it was 5000. 1t rose to 100000
h day in October. 1915; to 10000 in
August, 1916; to 2O3,OOO in the fol-
lowing November: to 233,000 in May.
1917, which level was maintained and
even exceeded to the end of the war.
This increase of production-3TS3 SO
per cent-was obtained under almost
hopeless conditions brought about by
invasion. 1t is to the everlasting
honor of our government, of our
parliament and of our industry that
they We're able to achieve it. in spite
of everything.
But to the first weapon, the IS
Inc USE ol WHICH was QSVelOpeu SC
1remendouSly-it was necessary to
add the war weapons of modern war
fare, the los short. 155 long. 22O, 270
$50. $40, 42G. Here everything had
to be built up from the bottom. Ur
to the very eve of war experts had
discussed the question of quick firing
heavy artillery in scientific papers to
no result. When war broke out We
Rad 104 pieces of quick firing 1858
and that was all. But follow the
expenditures from battle to battle:
Champagne and Artois in 1915 (twO
months) cost US 10000 rounds of 155
or $500 day, and 5.400 rounds of 220,
or 900 Il day. Nerdun and the Somme
in 1916 (ten monthS) cost US 5.2S0.000
rounds of 155.. or 1850 a day, and
$4,000 rounds of 220, or 1.343 day.
The Aisne. in 1917 (two months). cost
day. and $4,000 rounds of 220. or
$500 a day. For the offensive of 1918
the expenditure reached 6.530,000
rounds of 155, or 54,416 day.
Covered by Production.
This heavy expenditure of heavy
shells. as in the case of the 75s. was
completely covered by production.
The daily. output of 1865. which did
not even exist in September. 1914. had
10000 in October, 1916. to $4,000 in
July. 1918. The output of 220s rose
from 46O in September, 1915. to 2.1OC
in September. 1916. and to 3.400 in
April. 1917. The total increase was
s.7S2 per cent for the 75s, was 9Sa
per cent for the 1858 and 639 per cent
for the 220s. And all this. I repeat
and insist, was after invasion had
robbed US of about IS per cent OF
our pre-war iron and steel metallur-
gic resources.
If We take into account other sizes
than the IS. the 155 and the 22O, we
have during the last period of the
war a total daily production of $780,
900 shells, and for the entire war g
total production of 300,000,000 pro
jectiles.
do not want to prolong this emu
meration. Let me merely add that, in
September. 1914. our armies had lac
aeroplanes in action, and that in Oc-
tSoer. 1918: they had 3.ooS' that a'
the beginning of the war we were
producing sixty-two a month, and al
the end 2.06s. I note that in Decem-