Weekly Summary No. 8
Title
Weekly Summary No. 8
Creator
United States. War Department. General staff
Identifier
WWP25075
Date
1918 July 16
Description
Secret report of the wartime strength of the United States.
Source
Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Papers
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
World War, 1914-1918--United States
World War, 1914-1918--Statistics
Language
English
Text
No. 8 Statistics Branch
July 16, 1918 General Staff
ORDNANCE
Divisional Artillery
A recent cable indicates that French deliveries have met overseas needs for equipment up to July 1.
75 mm. gun -- British and American models -- Deliveries in the country speeding up.
French model -- No deliveries here yet, but forgings for the recoil mechanisms on the carriages of these guns are being completed and sent to France for machining.
4.7" gun -- Deliveries reported for last week in June -- 3 guns, 31 carriages.
155 mm. howitzer -- Completed to July 1 -- 135 guns, no carriages.
Heavy Artillery
No new US deliveries reported.
Artillery Ammunition
Shrapnel deliveries ample but shell of all calibers still inadequate, with the exception of shell for the 37 mm. tank and trench gun.
Machine Guns
Heavy Browning machine gun and Browning machine rifle -- deliveries increasing rapidly.
Vickers -- deliveries at rate of 500 a week. All guns delivered after July 1 are to be synchronized for use in airplanes.
Small Arms and Small Arms Ammunition
Needs met except on pistols and revolvers.
Tractors
The Maxwell Company has begun deliveries of 5-ton tractors and the Holt Company of the 10-ton type with completions of 5 and 51 respectively. Deliveries of the 15 and 20-ton type to July 1 are 340, or about two-thirds of the number required to that date. The 5-ton is used to draw 4.7" guns and 155 mm. howitzers, and the 10,15, and 20-ton tractors to draw heavy artillery.
QUARTERMASTER
Clothing and Equipage
There are sufficient stocks of almost every article of clothing on hand in France to last our overseas forces for periods of from three to six months. Complete records of stocks in the United States indicate that quantities of articles now in storage or en route are sufficient to meet needs here for some time to come, and at the same time continue the movement overseas.
Remount
No animals have as yet been shipped in answer to General Pershing's request for 8,000 a month. Large numbers are ready at remount depots and it is expected that a sufficient number of ships can be fitted up so that 10,400 can be shipped before September 1.
AIRCRAFT
Service Planes
De Haviland 4 -- Delivered through July 11 -- 649, of which more than half have already been shipped to the expeditionary force.
Bristol Fighter -- Production suspended pending experiment with other engines than the Liberty.
Handley Page Bomber -- Wooden parts produced for 25 planes. Deliveries of metal parts under way.
Service Engines
Liberty Motor -- Total production to July 11 - 2776. Nearly 500 have been delivered to the Allied governments.
Hispano Suiza, 300 HP -- 3,000 ordered; 7,000 additional authorized.
Training Planes and Engines
Planes -- Deliveries for 6 days ended July 5 -- advanced 86, elementary 16.
JN6-H observation and JN6-H pursuit training planes -- two new types, -- production started.
Engines -- Hispano-Suiza 180 HP -- first engines delivered this week. This engine is used largely abroad for combat planes of the pursuit type. Deliveries on other makes satisfactory.
ENGINEER
Railway Material
Locomotives and cars still urgently needed overseas. A third ship has been secured to carry fully assembled locomotives, but the locomotives now at port are knocked down and delay must ensue before a shipment of those fully assembled can be made.
CHEMICAL WARFARE SERVICE
Production of a number of types of gasses is coming forward rapidly. The manufacture of projectiles has not yet overcome technical difficulties.
MEDICAL
Surgical Dressings
Plain gauze contracts now total 232,000,000 yards. Four hundred tons of cellucotton, a cotton substitute made from wood, are under contract.
Bedding
The previous deficiency in mattress contracts is remedied, and a tree-fiber mattress is being tested.
Surgical Instruments
The threatened shortage is thought to be averted by procurement of instruments from small manufacturers.
SHIPS
The latest index figures on turnarounds are 31 days for troop transports and 71 days for cargo transports. During the week of the "Ooserdijk", a requisitioned Dutch vessel of 11,927 DWT and one of the Army's larger cargo transports, was sunk in collision with another transport 1,300 miles outward bound. No lives were lost and the cargo of 9,655 tons has been replaced.
The cargo shipped in Army transports during the first 10 days of July totaled 174,000 tons. Included in this shipment were 35 consolidated locomotives and 340 standard gauge freight cars.
The troop movement has been maintained at the June rate.
RAW MATERIALS
Chlorine and Compounds
Requirements for chlorine and its compounds will for a time increase faster than the productive capacity of the country. Our natural advantages for the production of poison gases are great, however. If we can forecast our needs nine months into the future, it will be possible to meet them to the full.
Other Critical Materials
We can get enough nitrates and manganese if we have the ships; enough sulphur if we protect the Gulf Coast mines against enemy raids by sea; enough platinum if we call upon the owners of platinum jewels to give them up for the common good; while of coal by-products, we have at the moment a surplus.
July 16, 1918 General Staff
ORDNANCE
Divisional Artillery
A recent cable indicates that French deliveries have met overseas needs for equipment up to July 1.
75 mm. gun -- British and American models -- Deliveries in the country speeding up.
French model -- No deliveries here yet, but forgings for the recoil mechanisms on the carriages of these guns are being completed and sent to France for machining.
4.7" gun -- Deliveries reported for last week in June -- 3 guns, 31 carriages.
155 mm. howitzer -- Completed to July 1 -- 135 guns, no carriages.
Heavy Artillery
No new US deliveries reported.
Artillery Ammunition
Shrapnel deliveries ample but shell of all calibers still inadequate, with the exception of shell for the 37 mm. tank and trench gun.
Machine Guns
Heavy Browning machine gun and Browning machine rifle -- deliveries increasing rapidly.
Vickers -- deliveries at rate of 500 a week. All guns delivered after July 1 are to be synchronized for use in airplanes.
Small Arms and Small Arms Ammunition
Needs met except on pistols and revolvers.
Tractors
The Maxwell Company has begun deliveries of 5-ton tractors and the Holt Company of the 10-ton type with completions of 5 and 51 respectively. Deliveries of the 15 and 20-ton type to July 1 are 340, or about two-thirds of the number required to that date. The 5-ton is used to draw 4.7" guns and 155 mm. howitzers, and the 10,15, and 20-ton tractors to draw heavy artillery.
QUARTERMASTER
Clothing and Equipage
There are sufficient stocks of almost every article of clothing on hand in France to last our overseas forces for periods of from three to six months. Complete records of stocks in the United States indicate that quantities of articles now in storage or en route are sufficient to meet needs here for some time to come, and at the same time continue the movement overseas.
Remount
No animals have as yet been shipped in answer to General Pershing's request for 8,000 a month. Large numbers are ready at remount depots and it is expected that a sufficient number of ships can be fitted up so that 10,400 can be shipped before September 1.
AIRCRAFT
Service Planes
De Haviland 4 -- Delivered through July 11 -- 649, of which more than half have already been shipped to the expeditionary force.
Bristol Fighter -- Production suspended pending experiment with other engines than the Liberty.
Handley Page Bomber -- Wooden parts produced for 25 planes. Deliveries of metal parts under way.
Service Engines
Liberty Motor -- Total production to July 11 - 2776. Nearly 500 have been delivered to the Allied governments.
Hispano Suiza, 300 HP -- 3,000 ordered; 7,000 additional authorized.
Training Planes and Engines
Planes -- Deliveries for 6 days ended July 5 -- advanced 86, elementary 16.
JN6-H observation and JN6-H pursuit training planes -- two new types, -- production started.
Engines -- Hispano-Suiza 180 HP -- first engines delivered this week. This engine is used largely abroad for combat planes of the pursuit type. Deliveries on other makes satisfactory.
ENGINEER
Railway Material
Locomotives and cars still urgently needed overseas. A third ship has been secured to carry fully assembled locomotives, but the locomotives now at port are knocked down and delay must ensue before a shipment of those fully assembled can be made.
CHEMICAL WARFARE SERVICE
Production of a number of types of gasses is coming forward rapidly. The manufacture of projectiles has not yet overcome technical difficulties.
MEDICAL
Surgical Dressings
Plain gauze contracts now total 232,000,000 yards. Four hundred tons of cellucotton, a cotton substitute made from wood, are under contract.
Bedding
The previous deficiency in mattress contracts is remedied, and a tree-fiber mattress is being tested.
Surgical Instruments
The threatened shortage is thought to be averted by procurement of instruments from small manufacturers.
SHIPS
The latest index figures on turnarounds are 31 days for troop transports and 71 days for cargo transports. During the week of the "Ooserdijk", a requisitioned Dutch vessel of 11,927 DWT and one of the Army's larger cargo transports, was sunk in collision with another transport 1,300 miles outward bound. No lives were lost and the cargo of 9,655 tons has been replaced.
The cargo shipped in Army transports during the first 10 days of July totaled 174,000 tons. Included in this shipment were 35 consolidated locomotives and 340 standard gauge freight cars.
The troop movement has been maintained at the June rate.
RAW MATERIALS
Chlorine and Compounds
Requirements for chlorine and its compounds will for a time increase faster than the productive capacity of the country. Our natural advantages for the production of poison gases are great, however. If we can forecast our needs nine months into the future, it will be possible to meet them to the full.
Other Critical Materials
We can get enough nitrates and manganese if we have the ships; enough sulphur if we protect the Gulf Coast mines against enemy raids by sea; enough platinum if we call upon the owners of platinum jewels to give them up for the common good; while of coal by-products, we have at the moment a surplus.
Original Format
Report
Files
Collection
Citation
United States. War Department. General staff, “Weekly Summary No. 8,” 1918 July 16, WWP25075, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.