Much boasting about military service, but apparently there are machines to spare for the home front! I recently read that, at the time of the Somme, Britain -- you think of it as an industrialized country -- was producing half the number of artillery shares the French were making. As a consequence, artillery "preparation" on the Somme was "insufficient." An interesting time in history.
Thanks! It took a while to sink in that the war was not going to be quickly over. Britain did not get rationing until late in 1917. The Somme was perhaps the first glimpse of modern total all out war, previews of which had been seen in the US Civil War, but perhaps not appreciated in Europe. No doubt they were ill prepared for it.
Much boasting about military service, but apparently there are machines to spare for the home front! I recently read that, at the time of the Somme, Britain -- you think of it as an industrialized country -- was producing half the number of artillery shares the French were making. As a consequence, artillery "preparation" on the Somme was "insufficient." An interesting time in history.
ReplyDeleteI meant artillery "shells" of course.
DeleteThanks! It took a while to sink in that the war was not going to be quickly over. Britain did not get rationing until late in 1917. The Somme was perhaps the first glimpse of modern total all out war, previews of which had been seen in the US Civil War, but perhaps not appreciated in Europe. No doubt they were ill prepared for it.
ReplyDelete