"This was one day before the first German peace note and 38 days before the end of the war, but Marshal Foch was then calling upon America to make her great shipments of munitions and her supreme contribution of man-power for the campaign of the following year."
GAS AND EXPLOSIVES
One of the striking contributions to the cause of the Allies was the enormous quantity of smokeless powder and high explosives produced. From April 1, 1917, to November 11, 1918, the production of smokeless powder in the United States was 632,000,000 pounds, which was almost equal to the combined production of France and Great Britain. But by the time the war ended the production of smokeless powder in this country was 45 per cent. greater than that of France and Great Britain combined.
The output of high explosives, T.N.T. and others, increased rapidly from its pre-war status to a quantity 40 percent. greater than that of Great Britain, and nearly double the French production at the close of the war.
"The result of the high rate of production of both smokeless powder and high explosives was that the artillery ammunition program was never held up for lack of either the powder which hurls the bullet or the shell from the gun, or the high explosive which makes the shell effective when it reaches its destination."
Colonel Ayres says of toxic gases:
"When the clouds of chlorine suddenly enveloped the British and French lines in the Ypres salient, early in 1915, a new weapon was introduced into the war. That it was a powerful weapon is evidenced by the fact that during the year 1918 from 20 to 30 percent. of all our battle casualties were due to gas.
"At the time we entered the war we had practically no experience in manufacturing toxic gases, and no existing facilities which could be readily converted to such use. At the signing of the armistice we were equipped to produce gas at a more rapid rate than France, England, or Germany."
THE AIR SERVICE
"On the declaration of war the United States had fifty-five training airplanes, of which fifty-one were classified as obsolete and the other four as obsolescent. When we entered the war the Allies made the designs of their planes available to us and before the end of hostilities furnished us from their own manufacture 3,800 service planes.