The Great War - WW1
The War of the Guns
With the arrival of the fixed trench systems the war on the Western Front took on many of the aspects of a gigantic siege, requiring colossal quantities of all types of guns and projectiles. In August 1914 the first six divisions of the BEF fielded 486 guns, all but one of them light field pieces. By November 1918 the number of British guns in France had risen to 6'432 of all types.
During the war the British artillery fired-off over 170 million rounds, representing more than five million tons. During the two weeks preceding the Passchendaele offensive, in July 1917, British guns fired 4'283'550 rounds at a cost of some 22 million pounds-sterling. At Messiness in June 1917, the British concentrated 2'338 guns, 808 of them heavy artillery and 304 large smooth-bore trench mortars on a nine-mile front, a ratio of one gun to every seven yards or 240 to the mile. In the 17-day preliminary bombardment, 5.5 tons of ammunition were delivered to each yard of enemy front.
Artillery accounted for up to 70 per cent of the casualties between 1914 and 1918. Troops subjected to heavy bombardment endured physical and mental torture. Nevertheless, even after the heaviest bombardment sufficient solider's survived to break up an infantry attack. The 4.3 million shells fired in the 14 days before the offensive at Passchendaele failed to suppress the defence. When the British went over the top, the unforgiving German machine guns were waiting for them.