Weekly Summary No. 13
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W E E K L Y
S U M M A R Y
WAR DEPARTMENT
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Ordnance................. 1
Quartermaster......... 1
Aviation...................2
Chemical Warfare.....2
Medical....................2
Ships........................3
Raw Materials...........3
Personnel.................3
No. 13
Statistics Branch
General Staff
ORDNANCE
Artillery
According to estimates just received the French will be able to furnish us artillery at the following monthly rates:75 mm -- August, 480 -- monthly thereafter, 288155 mm howitzers -- 140 monthly155 mm guns -- 40 monthly
These deliveries with American shipments will meet immediate needs for divisional artillery and will go far with British howitzer deliveries towards meeting heavy artillery requirements.The first two American-made carriages for the 155 mm gun were completed since last report.
Artillery Ammunition
It has been decided to pool French and American shell reserves of the common calibers, 75 mm and 155 mm. 75 mm gas shells are now being shipped overseas in quantity.
Machine Guns
Heavy Brownings -- 1409 accepted week ended August 3, the high record.
Explosives and Propellants
There is considerable concern over the supply of smokeless powder for the balance of 1918 and 1918. The present rates of artillery fire upon which estimates of powder consumption are based are higher in many cases than those of France and England. General Pershing has been asked to make a careful study of these rates and of the amounts of powder the Allies will require from us in 1919.
Ford Tank
The first sample Ford tank has been completed and shipped to France. The tank weighs about three tons, has a speed of ten miles an hour, can climb a 45° grade and cross a four-foot trench. A production of 100 per day can probably be reached when complete tests have proved the tank's value.
QUARTERMASTER
Animals
Shipment of animals overseas had not begun up to August 17, but the number on hand in France increased from 83,000 to 134,000 during the past month. Purchases have doubtless been made in Great Britain and Spain as well as in France.
Storage
One-third of the total Quartermaster storage space available and under construction is at New York and Baltimore and one-fourth at Chicago and Jeffersonville. New construction at New York and Baltimore will more than double present dry storage capacity at these ports.
AVIATIOND
H 4 Planes at Front
The following communique was received August 15-Commander of Air Service reported August 14th on August 7th the first complete squadron of 18 American D H 4 Planes with Liberty Motors crossed the German lines on independent reconnaissance mission in Lorraine under command of Benj. D. Foulois, Brig. Gen., and Lieut. Blair Thaw. All planes returned successfully from their mission. Pershing.
-Service Planes
The production of De Haviland 4 planes is still suspended while modifications are being made.The production of Caproni night bombers has been postponed due to changes in design. The first plane of this type manufactured was equipped with the Liberty 12 engine. It has now been decided to substitute the Liberty 8 engine.Service EnginesThe rapid production of Liberty motors continues. 1,000 were delivered during the two week period ended August 9. The total deliveries to August 15 were 4,603. An order for 5,000 Liberty 8 engines to be used in the Caproni night bombing plane and in a bi-place pursuit plane, not yet designated, has been placed with the General Motors Corporation. An order for 3,000 Hispano- Suiza 180 H.P. engines has been placed with the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation, increasing the total on order to 4,000. Production of this engine is ahead of estimates.
CHEMICAL WARFARE
Construction of shell filling and gas production plants is delayed by inability of the Construction Division to secure competent civilian labor.
The new Tissot gas mask has proved satisfactory after tests. There is still a shortage of extra canisters for masks.
MEDICAL
Orders are being placed to relieve an acute shortage of Ford and G.M.C. ambulances overseas.
Red Cross supplies shipped to France and Italy the first half of 1918 were made up as follows:
The latest index figures on turnarounds are 35 days for troop transports and 70 days for cargo transports.In the last week the cargo transport MONTANAN, a large and valuable ship of 9,920 TDW with 7,600 short tons of general cargo, was torpedoed and sunk on her eastbound voyage. The cargo transport, CUBORE, was also sunk on her homeward voyage. This loss is particularly severe as the CUBORE was a ship of 11,650 TDW and was one of two ships carrying 35 set-up consolidated locomotives at a loading. She was formerly engaged in the Cuban ore trade.It is estimated that the cargo shipment for the second ten days of August will be in the neighborhood of 210,000 short tons.The troop movement continues without interruption; 130,000 being embarked in the first 15 days of August.
RAW MATERIALS
Nitrate of Soda
July arrivals amounted to 122,831 tons or 20,000 tons less than June and 87,000 tons less than May.
Stocks in the United States, however, increased during the month, due to the practical cessation of consumption of nitrate for fertilizer.
Gulf Coast Sulphur
The damage wrought at the plant of the Union Sulphur Company by the tornado of August 6 proves to be much more serious than at first reported. It is now estimated that production will be suspended for from 60 to 90 days and that the loss in output will reach one-sixth of the country's annual production.
PERSONNEL
American Expeditionary Force to Siberia
A total of 3,026 troops have sailed from Manila to Vladivostock:August 8 -- the 27th Infantry, 61 officers, 1,537 menAugust 13 -- the 31st Infantry, 45 officers, 1,383 men
Battle Casualties Among Officers and Men
The latest available figures indicate that the casualty rate among officers and men in the American army is practically the same. The following table gives the rates from June 1 to August 1, 1918.The heaviest casualties occurred the week ended July 18 when 1,101 were killed in action, or died of wounds, and 1,581 were severely wounded. The German drive on the Marne began July 15 and the Allied offensive July 18. On the 15th the second, third and 42d divisions were in the line along the Marne, and on the 18th the first, fourth and 26th were also engaged.
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