The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1924-02-07
COSTS MILLIONS
FOR ONE BATTL
British Figures Show 100000
600 Spent for Single Fight
in World War.

Hol oAiy LIE UlSSeSl uul the COStllcS'
war In history. 1t remained for Great
Britain to show how rapidly modern
warfare runs into money, so that, for
instance, the mere setting of the stage
for q single battle may cost upward
Of S10O,O0O,OOO.
During the fourteen days from July
II to July 80, 1917, the British army
was getting ready for the third battle
of Ypres. Part of this preparation
consisted In a thorough bombardment
of the German positions, during which
the British guns expended 4,2S3,550
rounds of ammunition. This ammuni-
tion cost f22,211 ,3S9 Ids. 4d., or APP
proximately S107, 947, 351 at normal ex-
change, according to Statistics of the
military effort of the British empire
during the great war;"
This formidable volume, recently
published with the sanction of the
war Office, audits ~Armageddon and
renders a cost accounting of destruc-
ton with almost appalling minuteness,
as witness the four pence noted in the
receipted bill for the preliminary bonn
bardment of Ypres, which is further
more itemized to show the different
varieties and sizes of shell used. They
ranged from 1905 fired by the giant
fifteen inch howitzers to 2,239,60S
shrapnel and high explosive from the
contemporaries corresponding to
our three-inch field gun. Next to these
fho civ fnob haxr;t1orc anncnpnnl ynnct
shell-750, 119-and the 4.5-inch gun
was a close third with 72S,345.
The total cost of this preparation
was greater than that of any other
INDUCED in by the British during the
war. But the cost per day had
weeks earlier, when, from May 20 to
June 6, they were getting set for the
battle Of Messines. During a period
of IL days their artillerists expended
3,561,63O rounds at an approximate
cost of $S5, 075, 5O2. This averages
$~7,734,227 a day, where the longer
bombardment at Ypres averaged 81
71O,525.
Nearly 19 Million Shot in Day.
But even Ypres and Messines do not
represent the peak load. The heaviest
expenditure in any single day by the
armies il France was from
boon to noon, September 1929, 1918, |
they pushed off for the final adj
vance In Flanders before the arms
tice. During these "a hours 943,S47
were expended, very nearly
IL shells a second or 720 a minute.
The stated approximate cost of this
ammunition was $1S,S13,060, which
mounts to $7S3,S7S an hour and $13,-
)64 a minute. Every time a watch
licked off a second that day the equiv
alent of $217.77 or more than the
monthly income of the average family,
up in smoke.
These figures are for artillery am
nunition and for France alone, where
he estimated strength of the British
forces, all ranks and labor units, on
November i, 1918, vas 1,966,727 Off
,ers and men. And this was only one
II several theaters of war in which
British land forces were operating. In
tally, on the same date, their num-
,er was $1,000; In S~alonica, 193,007;
n British East Africa, 1860; in
egypt, 458,246; in Mesopotamia, 408,-
39, and at Alden 11,461, giving a grand
otal of 3,226,S79 in the expeditionary
orces. To this must be added the es-
strength Of British and CO.
onial troops at home, 1~,603,384, and
q India, Burmah and the garrisons of
efended ports. This brings the total
stimated strength of British land
orces ten days before the armistice to
1886, 943. i
To maintain and operate such ar J
lies cost correspondingly great sums. I
he statistics" states that for the J
cried from April 1, 1914, to March I
[, 1919, five full fiscal years, the army I
expenditure proper was equivalent to
Ia, 118, 249, 807, of which $4,00S,330,1 9S I
spent in 1918-19 alone. The aver {
&c yearly expenditure during the pc {
cd was $2,S23, $40, 9S1. The army ex- {
anditure for the year April 1, 1913, {
March 81, 1914, was $137,857,256. :
D the average war time annual ex- {
,nditure was 2,04S per cent of what g
had been, and during 191S-19 was q
ore than 1900 per cent higher. g
And the army expenditure was only 8
lie of several wal cost items. An 9
her table gives the average daily eX- Il
mixtures at different periods for the
my, navy, munitions, shipping, etc, y
follows:
1916-October s to December 8,
daily.
1917-April 1 to May 5, when the
ermans retreated to the Hindenburg
lie and the Arras offensive began,
1921 ,020 daily.
l917-November 1 to January 10,
IL, the period of the peak load, $780,
2,620 daily.
1918-April 1 to November 9, a
of more than eight months,
6,172,98 daily.
70 provide for these expenditures
granted hptwaen AuouSt e