The scale of the First World War was so large that it was often difficult to gauge. I talk
a lot about the numbers of the dead, the wounded, even the refugees, but today I’m going to
throw some other numbers at you to help get some more perspective; not numbers of people,
numbers of things.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War Special Episode of The Great War in Numbers.
The destructive power of the technologies used in the First World War was devastating
like never before in history, and this power increased exponentially as the war went on.
In no area was this more obvious than in the use of artillery.
Artillery was comparatively rudimentary at the beginning of the war, but the continued
development of gun design, ranging technology, counter-barrage, tactical deployment, and
the innovations in artillery design all contributed to increase the deadly efficiency of artillery,
but what really increased the body count was the enormous increase in the sheer amount
of artillery.
For example, at Champagne and Artois in 1915, the French expended 8 million shells over
two months along a 50-kilometer front, about 30 miles. Over a similar two month span two
years later at Chemin des Dames, the French poured 19 million shells into a 40-kilometer
front, only 25 miles.
The Battle of Verdun, however, has become famous, or rather infamous, for the heavy
use of artillery. The German plan was to shell the French into oblivion. To prepare for that,
the German Army amassed enough ammunition to fire 2 million shells from 1,201 guns in
only 6 days, and a further 2 million in the ensuing 12 days. This required a huge amount
of preparation: in the lead up to battle, over 30 trains a day were scheduled to off-load
shells behind the German lines.
The battle began on February 21, 1916 with roughly 1 million shells being fired into
the French lines during just a 10-hour bombardment.
As the battle raged on, artillery bombardments became the norm, and became increasingly intense.
Between August 11th and 20th, just ten days, the French Army fired 3 million shells into
an area only 4 kilometers by half a kilometer, so 2.5 miles by just over 500 yards, wreaking
havoc on the German operations and supply lines.
By the time the battle ended, it is estimated that as many as 65,000,000 shells were used
by the French and German armies, and that 75% of the over 700,000 casualties were caused
by artillery fire.
Of course, staggering numbers aren’t limited to just weaponry. With millions of soldiers
in the field, you also had supply logistics and supply problems like none ever seen before.
By 1915 the Western Front stretched roughly 1,000 kilometers- 600 miles- from the Swiss
border to the North Sea. Millions of men held both sides of the line in trench networks,
fortifications, dugouts, fortresses, redoubts, and... holes in the ground. In addition to
providing shells and armaments for soldiers along the Western Front, which was no small
feat, the logistical branch of each army had to consider the supply of everyday necessities
and services for all these in men in what were, in reality, mobile towns and even cities
all along the line.
For example, in 1917 the Canadian Corps was holding a six-kilometer portion of that front
before the Battle of Arras. That’s it, just 4-ish miles, but this single Corps holding
that fraction of the front included 97,184 Canadians, along with a British Division in
reserve. With support staff and services a total of 170,000 men were engaged there. To
put this in context, if that group was in Canada in 1917, it would have been the third
largest city in Canada after Montreal and Toronto. In addition to supplying ammunition
for 100,000 soldiers and 983 artillery pieces, systems for food, water, transport, medical
services, communication, engineering, entertainment, training grounds, billets, and general infrastructure
had to be developed and maintained. Behind the trench networks, this operations area
stretched for over 10 kilometers or just above 6 miles.
To supply these operations and to facilitate transport, engineers built or improved 50
kilometers- 30 miles- of roads and maintained it on a daily basis as the roads were constantly
being battered down. Because of the heavy traffic and constant bombardments, much of
the roads were build up with wood, forming double-lane plank roadways to support supply
and rear assembly areas.
The Canadian Corps Light Railway built and maintained a 20-kilometre or 12.5 miles tramway
system that brought shells forward by night and was designed to transport thousands of
wounded men to clearing stations once battle began.
These narrow-gauge rail lines ran into some of the 13 subways that were dug 8 met ers-
26 feet- underground into the chalk bedrock along the front line. Totaling 12 kilometers
or 7 miles in length, the parallel subways that lead right up to No Man’s Land were
to be used for troop movement before the battle. They were outfitted with telephone communication,
most had electrical lighting, and the longest subway had a water main that helped bring
some of the 600,000 gallons or 2.3 million litres of water that was needed at the front
every day for the soldiers and the 50,000 horses and mules used by the Corps. This water
system included 21 pumping stations and over 70 kilometers or 43 miles of pipeline.
In order to fulfill an ever-increasing need for wood for these roads, railways, as well
as for duckboards and tunnel supports, Forestry Companies erected mobile sawmills behind the
Canadian lines, supplying over 30,000 meters- 100,000 feet- of rough planking every week.
Communication systems were built both aboveground and below , with 1,800 kilometers- 1,100 miles-
of telephone wire being laid in tunnels and across the trench system used by that Corps.
Most of this infrastructure was built over a six month period. Once the Battle of Arras
forced the German line back, each headquarters and unit attached to the Canadian Corps had
to re-organize and move operations forward. The logistical process of relocating hospitals,
headquarters, stores, supply depots, kitchens, batteries, and the like, and building the
requisite infrastructure as new lines were established was time-consuming and labour-intensive,
but was also crucial to military operations. Bear in mind that this was all just to supply
a little more than half of one percent of the trench lines… on one side.
Supply on the German side, well, on any side, was just as complicated.
The food requirement alone was mind-blowing. I will give you the next few numbers in pounds.
2 pounds are a bit less than a kilo. Just for your reference. In The First World War,
Holger H. Herwig notes that in one month a German unit of 35,000 men would consume 1,000,000
pounds of meat, 600,000 loaves of bread, 242,000 pounds of canned meat, 121,000 pounds of marmalade,
and 73,000 pounds of coffee. The horses of that same unit would need 7,000,000 pounds
of oats, and over 4,000,000 pounds of hay.
Herwig also notes that the 18th Army Corps reported that in one month, Corps butchers
had slaughtered 1,320 cows, 1,100 hogs, 4,158 sheep to meet the food requirements of the
men, so extrapolated to the entire German Army, in one week, the army needed 60,000,000
pounds of bread, 131,000,000 pounds of potatoes, and over 17,000,000 pounds of meat.
I thought you guys might like a quick look at a small variety of the staggering numbers
that aren’t just related to the killing of millions of young men. Well, I lie, all
of the numbers are related to the killing of young men, and the bigger the numbers,
the greater the killing.
Thanks a lot to Ryan Gallant who had the idea for this episode and did most of the research
for us. If you liked that idea, let us know in the comments and we will see if we can
come up with more numbers of World War 1.
For our ranking of the most stupid moves of early World War 1 click here and don’t forget
to subscribe. See you next time.