The success emanating from the working of our "bloomin' guns" has been, it may be fairly argued, in no small measure due to the excellent qualities of the high-explosive shell, and some interesting figures in this respect may be usefully quoted from the Daily Mail of May 16th, 1919:
"Remarkable comparative tests," runs the briefly worded paragraph in question, "have been carried out by British gunnery experts with the high-explosive shells used by both sides in the war. The shells from captured and Allied dumps were fired from the guns for which they were made at specially prepared targets. The official record of 'duds' (shells which failed to explode) was—
| United States | 50 | per | cent. | |
| German (1918) | 38 | " | " | |
| French | 32 | " | " | |
| Italian | 25 | " | " | |
| Austrian | 25 | " | " | |
| British | 8 | " | " | " |
The remarkable results obtained from the British standpoint as compared with that of other and competing nationalities confirm once again the service rendered by our modest little friend the shell "gauge"; and without in any way disparaging the imperturbable sang froid of our gunners, or the indomitable courage and the unquenchable flair of our splendid infantry, it is no exaggeration to say that the superlative degree in the art of shell manufacture attained by British exponents has been largely instrumental in enabling us to fulfil the pledge that "however long the war might be, however great the strain upon our resources, this country intended to stand by her gallant Ally, France, until she redeemed her oppressed children from the degradation of a foreign yoke" (Mr. Lloyd George, October, 1917).
[3.] A comment of King Edward's on the German Emperor, 1906.
[4.] Mr. Lloyd George, House of Commons, Dec. 15th, 1915.
[5.] The late Lord Fisher, Nov. 9, 1907.
[6.] C'est celui-la, etc., said of the Tsar, Nicholas II., when visiting Paris in 1896.