Weekly Summary No. 6

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

WAR DEPARTMENT

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Ordnance................. 1
Quartermaster......... 2
Aircraft....................3
Engineer...................3
Medical....................3
Ships........................4
Raw Materials...........4
Personnel.................4

No. 6
Statistics Branch
General Staff

ORDNANCE
Divisional Artillery
75 mm. gun---- Recent cables from General Pershing show that enough guns are being provided abroad to equip all divisions as they arrive, but with hardly any allowance for wastage, reserves, and training. Shipment overseas of available British type 18 pounder is now urgently requested. United States deliveries during week ended June 15 ---- British model, 16 guns, 15 carriages; Model 1916, 34 guns, no carriages.
4.7" gun ---- Equipment for two regiments is being shipped. These are guns which were on hand at the beginning of the war. New guns are expected for shipment in August.155 mm. howitzer ---- Some delay in equipping troops probable.
Heavy Artillery
155 mm. guns, 8", and 9.2" howitzers ---- It will be necessary for some months for American troops to fight with less heavy artillery than was planned, but enough guns are available to give an equipment for troops actually on the firing line comparable to that of other armies.
Artillery Ammunition
American production is expected to meet all needs by December. French and British meeting present needs except for shortage of 155 mm. gun shell. No American production of shell June 1 to 15 except for 37 mm. gun and 10" seacoast gun.Machine GunsHeavy Browning ---- Production during week ended June 15 was 611, the appropriate equipment for over 100,000 men. Figure for previous week was 376.
Browning Machine Rifle ---- Production jumped to 1,000 per week against 383 for week ended June 8.
Lewis Aircraft Machine Gun ---- Supply satisfactory with completions of 1,000 per week.Marlin Machine Gun ---- None completed during week because of change of design.
Small ArmsPistols ---- Need continues acute. Time of shipment from factory to seaboard is being cut to 24 hours.
Rifles ---- Supply adequate.

Small Arms Ammunition
Ball cartridges, Cal. 30 ---- Over 53,000,000 rounds produced during second week of June. Rate sufficient to provide for 700,000 men, with equal amount for reserves.

Trench Warfare Material
3" Stokes Mortars ---- General Pershing has requested shipments from United States. The request can be met.
Barlow Drop Bombs ---- No deliveries first two weeks of June.
Hand and Rifle Grenades ---- No deliveries first two weeks of June.

Explosives and Propellants
Deliveries continue in excess of present requirements to fill machined shell delivered, but shortage is feared later.

Tractors
Two 10--ton and 29 20--ton catepillar tractors had been accepted by June 15. No --“ton or 15 ton were delivered since last report.

QUARTERMASTER
Clothing and Equipage
A cable from General Pershing reduces equipment of each soldier to articles which he wears or carries. This eliminates from each man's equipment a barrack bag, and a bed sack, and reduces his allowance of blankets from 3 to 1; of pairs of puttees from 2 to 1; of pairs of stockings from 5 to 4; and of suits of underwear from 3 to 2. The actual reduction for production in this country and for shipment overseas has not yet been computed.
Reserve stock in the United States continues to increase slightly. Larger quantities of blankets, denim clothing, winter drawers, field shoes, overseas caps, and wool stockings, were shipped overseas June 10--20 than during the previous 10 day period. Shipments of wool breeches, trousers and coats, overcoats, and flannel shirts fell off over 75 per cent, as requirements for the month were largely covered in the first 10 day period. General Pershing's cable, June 21, cancelled all shipments of field shoes for the next three months as deliveries of shoes from England have exceeded expectations.

Subsistence
Overseas shipments of the principal items for the period ended June 20 showed a considerable increase over shipments for the previous period. More than 100 days supply of the following articles was on hand overseas June 1: bacon, beans, salmon, flour, jam, prunes, rice, sugar, and tomatoes.

Reclamation and Conservation
Shoes are now repaired in the United States at the rate of approximately 200,000 pairs per month. Stocks of all articles to be repaired are accumulating much faster than the reclamation service can handle them.

Fuel and Forage
It is expected that the winter's supply of coal will be accumulated at most of the camps and cantonments by August 1.Motor TransportDeliveries in the United States and overseas shipments of trucks continues to be far below requirements.

AIRCRAFT
Service Planes
De Haviland 4 ---- Deliveries June 8--15, 77; June 16--22, 72; June 23-28 (part of week), 72.
Total through June 28, 485. Through June 22, 92 planes had been delivered to the Navy for scouting service.
Bristol Fighter ---- Deliveries through June 28, 24. Still in experimental stage.
Liberty Engines
Deliveries June 8-15, 234; June 16-22, 286; June 23-29, 254.
Total through June 29, 2240. Of these 290 had been delivered through June 22 to England, France, and Italy.The Ford Motor Company entered production the week ended June 22 with an output of 25 engines.

ENGINEER
General Engineer Material
General engineer material is being furnished as fast as shipping tonnage will permit. Total requirements for barbed wire for allied forces, amounting to 32,000 tons per month, will be produced by the United States.

Railway Engineer Material
Pursuant to an urgent request for refrigerator cars overseas, an effort is being made to secure facilities for shipping these cars completely erected.

MEDICAL
Medical Supplies
Medical supplies situation is satisfactory. Additional large contracts have been placed for gauze, cotton, and bandages.Gas Defense MaterialThe government plant has continued to increase its weekly output of respirators. Two American models of the Tissot mask, which is designed to prevent dimming of the eye pieces, are now being manufactured; 5,881 of the new type were produced to June 19. This mask is more comfortable than other types as it does not have nose clips.

SHIPS
The index figures on turnarounds for the week are 36 days for troop transports and 70 days for cargo transports. During the week the Californian (9,000 DWT), one of the larger and more valuable cargo ships, struck a mine in French waters while outward bound and was lost with her entire cargo.In the first 20 days of June, 291,000 tons of cargo were shipped in Army transports. This is at the rate of 440,000 tons a month.In the second 10 days of June, cargo was discharged in French ports at the rate of 531,000 tons a month, a material increase over the best previous record. Evacuation from these ports was at the rate of 450,000 tons a month, also somewhat higher than any previous record.The June troop movement was in the neighborhood of 280,000 men, a material increase over the great May movement and one which places the total number transported over the million mark by several thousands.

RAW MATERIALS
Shortage of Chlorine and Caustic Soda
Caustic soda and chlorine are joint products of the electrolysis of salt. A shortage of caustic will develop within a few weeks as the new picric acid plants are completed which will consume great quantities of caustic. A shortage of chlorine, still more acute and more imminent, will be caused by the expanding needs of the poison gas program. Practically all of the toxic gases require large quantities of chlorine.To meet the double shortage, new electrolytic plants must be built at once, but this cannot be accomplished in less than six months. In the meantime it will be necessary to divert caustic and chlorine from domestic consumption to military uses.The caustic deficit can be made up if domestic users will consent to cut their consumption only 15 per cent. To meet the chlorine shortage will require more drastic measures. We must prepare ourselves to do without the use of tin chloride for weighting silks, of "œPyrene" for fire extinguishers, and of bleaching powder for textiles and paper.

PERSONNEL
The latest available figures indicate that counting in the June draft calls, we have under arms to date a total of 2,406,000 men. Of these, 1,000,000, or over 40 per cent, are overseas or en route. The degree of preparation of the remaining forces may be seen from the following table which shows the relation between length of service and assignment to units for every 100 men in the United States June 15.
TRAINING AND ORGANIZATION OF EACH 100 SOLDIERS IN U.S., JUNE 15