Weekly Summary No. 4

Title

Weekly Summary No. 4

Creator

United States. War Department. General staff

Identifier

WWP22407

Date

1918 June 18

Source

Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers, 1786-1957

Text

W E E K L Y
S U M M A R Y
WAR DEPARTMENT

                             Page
Ordnance................. 1
Quartermaster......... 1
Aircraft....................2
Engineer...................3
Medical....................3
Ships........................3
Raw Materials...........4
Personnel.................4
No. 4

Statistics Branch
General Staff

ORDNANCE
Divisional Artillery
Overseas needs will be met by French deliveries. There were 117 75 mm guns and 28 carriages produced in this country during May. All were of the British and American models. Of the French model no United States deliveries have been made. Some will be shipped incomplete and finished in France, where fine machining for this type can be done better than in the United States. Caissons and caisson limbers are needed for guns purchased overseas. Shipments have been begun, but there is a serious shortage. Production of 75 mm shell in the United States is under way.Corps and Army ArtilleryNeeds are largely met by French and British deliveries. There is a shortage of 155 mm gun shell. American deliveries of this caliber will not begin for some months.There are now ready for shipment twenty-eight 5" and sixty-four 6" Sea Coast guns with carriages; but shipment overseas will not be made until sufficient ammunition of both calibers is available to make the guns effective. No 9.2" howitzers are near completion in the United States. A small quantity of 9.2" shell was delivered during May. Forty 10" Sea Coast guns have been delivered; but there are no mounts ready nor are any expected for several months. Considerable quantities of 10" shell are available.

Machine Guns
Production continues satisfactory. It will soon be possible, if desired, to provide a greater number of machine guns per division than is now contemplated by the Tables of Organization.

Small Arms Ammunition
Stock on hand in France May 15 constituted an 80 day supply for United States troops then overseas.

Trench Warfare Materiel
Production of hand and rifle grenades is temporarily unsettled by change in design. Quantity production will soon be established.

Propellants

Deliveries of smokeless powder are up to contracts. Large deliveries were accepted by the Ordnance Department during May.

QUARTERMASTER

Clothing and Equipage
Little trouble has been experienced in equipping the June draft, although daily reports indicate that reserves at depots have been considerably reduced. Overseas shipments have increased by a slightly greater percentage than have the overseas requirements, but shipments are still considerably behind schedule. Requirements for maintenance overseas were reduced about 60 per cent by cablegram from General Pershing, May 8, 1918. They are still, however, considerably higher than British figures for actual consumption during 1917.

Subsistence
Overseas requirements have materially increased but there has been an actual decrease in overseas shipment. The quantities of frozen beef and flour shipped from June 1 to 10 were 25 per cent less than the quantities shipped from May 20 to 31.

Fuel and Forage
Overseas shipments of oats continue above requirements, permitting General Pershing to build up a grain reserve. Overseas shipments of hay have been materially reduced, as the French government has agreed to supply hay required up to August 1.

Motor Transport
The delivery of three to five ton trucks is far behind requirements, but deliveries are materially improving each week.

AIRCRAFT
Service Planes
De Haviland 4 ---- deliveries for week ended June 8 established the new record of 71, as against 38 the preceding week and the previous high record for the week ended May 25 of 48. Total deliveries to June 8 are 264, of which 48 have been turned over to the Navy and 101 sent overseas.

Bristol Fighter ---- 11 delivered during the week. Total deliveries 22.

Liberty Engines
Deliveries for week ended June 8 were 145 as against 211 the week before and an average for May of 125. Total deliveries were 1,466 of which 215 have been assigned to the Allied governments, 661 (including 48 of army type) turned over to the Navy, and 157 sent overseas.

Training Planes and Engines
Advanced training planes ---- deliveries for the week were 89. Total deliveries 819. Production of specialized types for gunnery and bombing training is slowly increasing. No planes for observation or pursuit training have been delivered.

Primary training planes ---- total deliveries 4,495. Engines ---- total deliveries 6,830. Supply of both planes and engines ample for present needs.

Probable Number of Squadrons at Front
According to production schedule of June 1, and assuming that all American built service planes will be shipped abroad, there will be at the front by the end of April approximately 44 observation squadrons, 16 pursuit squadrons, and nine bombing squadrons.

ENGINEER
Military Railroads
Production of cars and locomotives adequate. Considerable quantities of railway material have been purchased abroad.

Gas and Flame
A Gas Service is being organized with General Sibert at the head to bring together work that has been done by the Engineer Corps, the Ordnance Department, the Bureau of Mines, and the Medical Corps. Fighting units will still be under the Engineer Corps and procurement largely under the Ordnance Department. A new and greatly enlarged production program has been launched for gas, projectors, and projectiles. Some gas is now being made and small quantities have been shipped overseas in drums. Production will increase rapidly. Six gas and flame units have been organized. Four of these are now overseas and two are in the front line trenches.

MEDICAL
Gas Defense Materiel
Production of gas defense materiel is proceeding satisfactorily and is expected to meet increased demands abroad, although present shipping space allotted is much below that needed to fill requirements.

During the week manufacture was begun of massage ointment, a new preventive against mustard gas. Contracts are now being placed to meet the need of 100 tons this month and large quantities thereafter.Motor AmbulancesAs against the cabled request of June 6 for the immediate overseas shipment of 175 motor ambulances, 395 ambulances were floated between May 27 and June 11.

Medical Supplies
For most items both contracts and production are beyond requirements. Bandage and gauze shortages are being made up steadily. Surgical instruments, though below requirements, are sufficient for immediate needs.

SHIPS
Transport Operation
The latest index turnaround figures are 36 days for troop ships and 71 days for cargo ships. In the first 10 days of June, 134,000 tons of cargo were shipped in army transports. The troop movement during this period continued at the rate maintained throughout May and the expectation is that 250,000 men will be shipped in June. Forty airplanes were shipped during the period. No army ships were lost at sea.

RAW MATERIALS
Nitrate of Soda Supply
Arrivals of nitrate of soda during the first four months of the year fell short of requirements by about 130,000 tons. United States stocks fell in consequence from 358,000 tons on December 15 to 231,000 on May 1. May arrivals exceeded May consumption, however, and stocks rose to 269,000 tons as of June 1.Expected arrivals in June, July, and August will bring the total receipts during the first eight months of the year to 1,165,367 tons as against an estimated consumption of 1,180,000 tons during the same period. For the next three months the situation in the United States will improve.
The fleet at present in the nitrate trade consists of 626,000 deadweight tons of steamers and 79,000 tons of sailers. If all these vessels could be kept in the trade for the balance of the year, the total receipts would meet current requirements for all purposes and build up the depleted stocks. About 130,000 deadweight tons of the fleet, however, are Japanese steamers and it is not expected that they will be retained in the trade after their present voyage.

PERSONNEL
On the first of June there were in the United States 400,000 enlisted men organized in divisions. Nearly 75 per cent of these men had more than three months military training. Ten per cent had more than one months training and 15 per cent less than one month. There were in the depot brigades easily available for service in divisions about 250,000 men, 15 per cent of whom had three months training.From these units and units not in divisions nearly 150,000 troops have already been embarked during June. The number of men overseas is rapidly nearing the 900,000 mark.A cable from General Pershing dated June 14 indicates that there were overseas on that date 714,000 men. Of these 72 per cent were combat troops as against 66 per cent on May 15 and 58 per cent on April 15. Nineteen per cent were serving with the British and French compared with eight per cent on April 15.

Original Format

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Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/WWI1051.pdf

Collection

Citation

United States. War Department. General staff, “Weekly Summary No. 4,” 1918 June 18, WWP22407, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.