Weekly Summary No. 5

Title

Weekly Summary No. 5

Creator

United States. War Department. General staff

Identifier

WWP25063

Date

1918 June 25

Description

Secret statistical report from the War Department.

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

Contributor

Danna Faulds

Language

English

Provenance

Document scan was taken from Library of Congress microfilm reel of the Wilson Papers. WWPL volunteers transcribed the text.

Text

Secret

WEEKLY SUMMARY

WAR DEPARTMENT


Ordnance ………………………………. 1
Quartermaster …………………………. 2
Aircraft ………………………………….. 2
Engineer ………………………………... 3
Medical …………………………………. 3
Ships ……………………………………. 4
Raw Materials …………………………. 5
Personnel ………………………………. 5

No. 5 Statistics Branch
June 25, 1918 General Staff

ORDNANCE

Divisional Artillery
75 mm. gun -- French deliveries adequate. Model 1916, intended according to recent plans for training camps and border duty in this country, now requested for overseas shipment by General Pershing. Deliveries to June 8 -- 19 guns with carriages, 192 guns without carriages. Shrapnel deliveries from this country adequate. Shell deliveries begun. Balance of needs met by French.

4.7” gun -- some shipments being made this month. Caliber not made by French or British. Ammunition adequate.

155 mm. howitzer -- French meeting needs for guns and ammunition. Two guns without mounts recently shipped overseas. Deliveries to June 8, 79 guns but no carriages.

Corps and Army Artillery
155 mm. gun -- needs being met by French. Shortage in ammunition.

6” seacoast gun -- floated to June 15 with mounts, 4; without mounts 2 -- practically no shell delivered or expected for some weeks.

8” and 9.2” howitzer -- supplied principally by British. Twenty-four 8” howitzers shipped from this side during May. Ammunition, both calibers, sufficient for present.

Machine Guns
Heavy Browning -- production increasing with record of 376 the first week in June.

Browning Machine Rifle -- production to June 8, 3,131.

Aircraft Machine Gun -- supply adequate.

37 mm. Gun -- production starting.

Small Arms
Rifles -- production 50,000 per week. Supply ample.

Pistols and revolvers -- production 15,000 per week. Still behind requirements.

Small Arms Ammunition
Production adequate. Reserves in France increasing.

Drop Bombs
Barlow drop bombs -- deliveries, 5,804 unloaded, 421 loaded.

Propellants
Smokeless powder deliveries June 1 to 8 -- 11,000,000 pounds -- exceed estimates.

Tractors
5 ton -- first delivery expected before end of June
10 ton -- first delivery made week ended June 8
15 ton -- 260 delivered to June 8
20 ton -- 75 delivered to June 8

QUARTERMASTER

Clothing and Equipage
Overseas stock of most of the principal articles was considerably larger on June 1 than on May 15. Over a four months supply of shoes, drawers, undershirts, and overcoats was reported on hand June 1. Woolen trousers alone showed a marked reduction.

Deliveries at depots in the United States have improved on practically all articles and reserve stocks show a slight increase.

Vehicles and Harness
Additional tonnage has been allotted for overseas shipment of vehicles and harness. This will materially reduce the stocks at the ports of embarkation, and in consequence, shipments to the ports have again been started.

Fuel and Forage
Overseas stocks on June 1 for the principal commodities were considerably larger than on May 1, with the exception of bran. Gasoline for July and August shipping requirements is ready at the seaboard.

Motor Transport
According to a cablegram from General Pershing, 16,109 motor vehicles of American manufacture are in use by the Expeditionary Forces. About 7,000 of these are trucks, over half of which are of the three ton type. Deliveries in the United States are still improving.

AIRCRAFT

Service Planes
De Haviland 4 -- production steadily increases. For June 15 the record was 77 as compared with the previous high record of 71 made the week before. Total deliveries to June 15 are 341, of which 76 have been assigned to the Navy and 113 sent overseas.

Bristol Fighter -- still in experimental stage. No deliveries this week. Total deliveries, 22.

Handley Page bombing planes -- deliveries expected to begin in July.

Caproni bombing planes -- no production expected before November or December.

Liberty Engines
Deliveries for week ended June 15, 234. Previous week, 145. Previous high record, 211. Total deliveries to date, 1700, of which 162 have been sent overseas.

Training Planes and Engines
Specialized types of JN4-H gunnery, observation, bombing, and pursuit training planes have received the new designation JN6-H. Model remains practically the same. Production of these types slowly increasing. Supply of engines is sufficient.

Squadrons at Front
According to cable advices there were 12 service squadrons at the front on June 1 and 18 additional squadrons abroad in various stages of training and equipment.

ENGINEER

General Engineer Material
There are no apparent shortages and material is going forward as fast as the capacity of shipping tonnage available will permit. There is urgent need for barbed wire; 2,000 tons per month for the next five months have been called for.

Military Railroads
More than 400 consolidated locomotives and 5,000 standard gage freight cars were shipped overseas to June 1. Cable just sent to General Pershing reads: “Can ship locomotives as fast as shipping space is available. One hundred forty two now in use on American railways can be promptly released”.

MEDICAL

Medical Supplies and Hospital Equipment
Situation good.

Ambulances (motor)
Recent cabled requirements call for shipment overseas of 100 Ford and 250 General Motors Corporation ambulances per month. Old contracts near completion will not meet this requirement; and there will be a shortage until deliveries begin on new contracts just placed.

Gas Defense Material
The government Gas Defense Plant made the record production of 69,740 respirators during the week ended June 12. There is still a shortage of anti-dimming tubes and sag paste.

SHIPS

Transport Operation
The latest index figures on turnarounds are 32 days for troop ships and 63 days for cargo ships. The cargo ship figure is the lowest yet attained. The best previous record was 65 days. During the first 20 days of June 291,000 tons of army cargo and 176,000 troops were embarked. This brings the total shipments during the war to 2,225,000 tons of cargo and 911,000 troops. The indication is that the expected troop movement of 250,000 for the month will be fully carried out. Included in cargo floated during the first 20 days of June are 120 airplanes including a record shipment for the last 10 days of 80 planes. This brings the total transported to 201.

During the week the troop transport “Dwinsk” was torpedoed and sunk while returning to this country. This ship was one of the smaller and slower transports. She was a Russian vessel controlled by the British and assigned by the latter to the Army. There were no other vessels lost during the week.

RAW MATERIALS

Consumption of Nitrate of Soda for Fertilizer
It has recently been suggested by the War Industries Board that the use of Chile nitrate for fertilizer be discontinued on the ground that (a) our stocks have fallen from 11 weeks supply last January to 7 weeks supply, and (b) that by 1919 the combined requirements for munitions alone of ourselves and the Allies will consume more nitrate than Chile can produce. The Allies now consider nitrate too precious to use as fertilizer.

The diagram below shows that last month our actual consumption of nitrate for fertilizer alone exceeded the average monthly requirements of the several Allies for all purposes.

COMPARATIVE NITRATE REQUIREMENTS - UNITED STATES AND ALLIES

Actual May Consumption U. S. A. Fertilizers Acid Explosives

Average monthly require- Britain All
ments of Allies, -- all
purposes
France All

Italy All

0 50,000 100,000 150,000
Long Tons

PERSONNEL

Training
Fifty per cent of all the troops now in this country have received more than three months military training. About 20 per cent have received between one and three months and about 30 per cent less than one month. A large proportion of the troops with less than one month of training are newly enlisted men in depot brigades.

Colored Troops
Rumors have been afloat that colored troops have been subjected to the most severe fighting. A cable from General Pershing indicates that in the four regiments of colored troops there have been three deaths from wounds and two wounded, with none killed in action.

Original Format

Report

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WWI1058.pdf

Collection

Citation

United States. War Department. General staff, “Weekly Summary No. 5,” 1918 June 25, WWP25063, World War I Letters, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.