WAR SUPPLIES
FURNISHED BY
UNCLE SAM
WASHINGTON, May 23 (by Asso
ciated Press).—Machine guns and
small arms produced by the millions,
ammunition turned out by billions of
rounds and tanks built by thousands
when the armistice ended hostilities,
furnish the subject of chapters made
public today of the war department’s
history of the “material” side of win
ning the war.
The story of machine gun produc
tion, about which such a hot contro
versy waged in congress as a result of
the failure of the American army to
adopt for standard general use the
Lewis weapon successfully abroad,
ic fnlH fnllnws*
“The manufacturing facilities for
machine guns in this country were
much more limited in extent that the
public had any notion of them (when
the United States entered the war)
or today. We had at the outbreak of
the war only two factories which were
actually producing machine guns in
any quantity at all.
“It was therefore evident that we
had to build up almost a completely
new capacity for production. Never
theless, we took advantage of what
facilities were at hand; and at once,
In fact within a week after the de
claration of war, were placing orders
for machine guns. In this connection
the reader should bear continually in
mind that throughout the development
of machine gun manufacture we util
ized all existing facilities to the limit
in addition to building up new sources
of supply.
“In other words, whenever con
cerns were engaged in the manufact
ure of machine guns, whatever their
make or type, we did not stop the pro
duction of these types in these plants
and convert the establishments into
factories for making other weapons;
but we had them continue the manu
facture in which they were engaged,
giving them orders which would en
able them to expand their facilities
in their particular lines of produc
tion.” ~
The statement shows that the two
Browning guns, the heavy and the
light automatic rifle (of the type now
in use by the troops in France) were
pronounced by the special test board
which held a conference in May, 1917
“the most effective guns of their types
known to the members,” in addition
to being designed for the purpose of
quantity production. At the same test
improved Lewis guns also proved
highly efficient and were recommended
by the board. Subsequently the
Lewis guns were shifted to aircraft
work because of special adaptability
and on recommendation of General
Pershing’s staff.
The report says there was great
dearth of heavy machine guns for air
craft work, to be syncronized with
propellers. This shortage existed in
the French and British services as
well as in the American. The Brown
ing aircraft gun would have met the
requirements, but it would be a long
time before it could be produced in
quantity. In seeking a stop gap
weapon until the Browning could be
ready, the ordinance department, by
“one of those surprising and almost
accidental successes” sometimes en
countered, found that a modified Mar
lin gun which could be quickly pro
duced met all requirements. General
Pershing cabled in November 1918,
“Marlin guns now rank as high as any
with pilots, and are entirely satis
factory.”
“The first twelve American divi
sions to reach France,” the report con
tinues, “were armed with Hotchkiss
heavy machine guns and Chauchat
automatic rifles by the French govern
ment. More than 1;000 Vickers heavy
machine guns produced in the United
States were traded to the French as
they were needed in French aircraft.
During May and June, 1918, eleven
American divisions sailed, all equipped
with Vickers heavy guns built in the
United States, and received Chauchat
rifles in France. After June all divi
sions to sail were equipped with the
standard American weapons the light
and heavy Brownings.”
The work of the light Brownings is
declared to have been so spectacular
as compared with any existing weap
ons of this character that when they
were demonstrated in France the of
ficers of the American Expeditionary
Force promutly decided to Increase
the equipment of infantry troops by BO
per cent adding enormously to the
production burden at home. The
heavy Brownings functioned so well
that an official report is quoted tell
ing of the work of 17 guns which were
tested immediately after they had
been engaged with the enemy in a se
vere action and while they stil were
encrusted with rust and mud and
bearing shrapnel scars. Without being
cleaned in any way each gun fired a
belt of 250 cartridges without a mal
function.
The demand for light Brownings
was so heavy that when the armistice
was signed the department was driv
ing forward production to the end
that British, Belgian and French
troops might be equipped with this
weapon, these three nations having
asked for supplies of this latest Am
erican addition to the lighting equip
ment.
Up to November 11 the production
of Browning rifles was 52,238, a major
ity of which were in France. In addi
tion 29,000 Chauchat guns had been
purchase^, so that enough light auto
matic rifles were on hand to supply
100 divisions or an army of 3,500,000
men. In the same time 41,804 heavy
Brownings and enough Vickers guns
had been produced to make with the
Hotchkiss weapons purchased from
the French a total of 54,027 of this
type, or enough to equip 200 divisions
or an army of 7,000,000.
“At the peak of our production,”
the report says, “a total of 1,794 ma
chine guns and automatic rifles of all
types were produced within a period
of 24 hours,” and the total production
of machine guns in the United States
between April 6, 1917, and November
11, 1918, was 185,039 as against 229,
238 produced by the French and 181,
404 by the British in the same period.
Only the loyal cooperation of the
manufacturres with whom “competi
tive commercial advantages weighed
not at all against the national need,”
made possible this achievement, the
report states.
ULiier yruuucuuu suuggico ur,awiu
ed in today’s chapters include items
varying in size from trench knives to
the 45-ton Mark VIII tanks of British
design of which 1,500 were being con
structed in cooperation with the Brit
ish and 1,450 additional wholly by
American enterprise. Only one of
these had been delivered up to Janu
ary 1, 1919, but it is noted that the
work on each program on component
parts was 50 per cent complete when
the armistice was signed. Orders for
all but 100 of these tanks have been
cancelled.
On November 11, 64 tanks of the
French 6-ton type had been delivered
and by January 31 of this year 291.
Of these six were shipped abroad.
Orders for 1,000 Mark I light tanks
were cancelled as were orders for
15,015 three-ton tanks, fifteen of which
had been completed on November 11.
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.
This was another element of the ord
nance program that was severely criti
cized, but the department states that
it sees no reason now to change its
view that the wisest course was that
which was followed. Army experts
still hold that the Springfield rifle is
the beet military weapon made, but
it is declared the rifle program would
have been “hopelessly delayed,’’ if it
had been attempted to equip the
forces with those weapons. 01t is re
iterated also that the Enfield rifle as
it was in production in American
plants when the United States entered
the war was an utterly inadequate
weapon, while as it was modiiled, it
became second only to the Springfield.
Despite the delay due to modification
and standardization, all American
troops were equipped with modern, ef
ficient, American-made rifles before
they left the United Statds.
“The decision to modify the En
field,” says the report, “was one of
the greatest decisions of the execu
tive prosecution of war—all honor to
General John T. Thompson and the
other rifle experts Vvho made it.”
The total rifle production in the
United States from the beginning of
the war up to November 9, 1918 was
2,506,307 of which a little more than
300,000 were Springfield rifles.
Considerable attention is devoted to
the production of automatic pistols
p 11 ■' ■' 1 1 —
ind revolvers for the troops. In the
‘Colt .45,” the standard army auto
matic developed as a result of Philip
pine experience by the army and
which also was an .invention by Brown
ing, the United States forces had a
weapon which all Europe could not
mat ch for efficiency in action and
which brought terror to the Germans
when American troops reached the
front.
European countries failed to appre
ciate the value of a large calibre, hard
hitting weapon of this type and the
chief use of pistols and revolvers in
European armies had been as orna-j
ments for officers’ uniforms it is said
rather than for active fighting.
“The result of Europe’s neglect,”
the report says, "was that the small
calibre revolvers of the Germans and
even of the French and British were
toys in comparison to the big Colts
that slapped the thighs of American
doughboys.”
With this weapon, it is stated, “any
average soldier with average training
can hit what he shoots at. In almost
the first skirmish it proved its super
ior usefulness in trench fighting. Such
incidents as that of the single Ameri
can soldier who dispersed or killed a
whole squad of German bayoneteers
which had surrounded him struck the
enemy with fear of Yankee prowess
with the pistol.”
This resulted in the addition of
pistols to the fighting equipment of
the American troops at a rate that
overwhelmed the supply. Every effort
to increase the production was made,
but the army was forced to resort to
45-calibre revolvers to supplement the
supply. The actual rate of production
reached just before the armistice was
1,993 pistols and 1,233 revolvers a day
and the total number of weapons built
during the war was 743,663.
The standard American army rifle
ammunition proved its superiority in
action, adding materially to the ac
curacy of American small arms fire.
Extraordinary measures to produce
cartridges in sufficient numbers are
recounted in the report and in the
fall of 1918 the United States
achieved an average monthly output
of 284,852,735 rounds against a Brit
ish average of 259,769,000 and a
French average of 139,845,000. During
the 19 months the United States was
in the war it produced 2,864,954,000
rounds, approximately equalling the
French production and comparing
with 3,486,127,000 produced by Great
Britain.
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