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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

ammunition


andrew pugh

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Good Evening all

I wonder if anybody could tell me what happened to all the vast amounts of unused ammunition that were left over in France and Belgium after the war had finnished?.

regards Andy.

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Thanks G dav

When i asked the question i was only refering to the vast amounts of unused ammunition.The logistics of having to transport all that ammo back home must have taken some time.Thank you for the answer to my question.

Best Regards

Andy

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Per the Officcial Statistics the stocks of Munitions in France & Flanders on 18th November 1918 were:

Shrapnel Shells 5,218,560

HE Shells 10,571,463

Trench mortar bombs 694,575

Grenades 7,191,763

Small arms ammunition

.303 325,051,160

Webley pistol 2,960,857

Tracer 8,342,309

A.P. 6,682,735

Who got the job of counting all this, particularly 325 million rounds of 303 ammo?

Not sure what A.P. is could any Pal enlighten me?

Peter

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Per the Officcial Statistics the stocks of Munitions in France & Flanders on 18th November 1918 were:

Shrapnel Shells 5,218,560

HE Shells 10,571,463

Trench mortar bombs 694,575

Grenades 7,191,763

Small arms ammunition

.303 325,051,160

Webley pistol 2,960,857

Tracer 8,342,309

A.P. 6,682,735

Who got the job of counting all this, particularly 325 million rounds of 303 ammo?

Not sure what A.P. is could any Pal enlighten me?

Peter

Would be one heck of a yippee shoot to get rid of that lot!

Dave

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I'm led to believe that during 3rd Ypres, 4,000,000 artillery shells were fired by the allies.

A little more than that

During preliminary bombardment 17/7/17 to 30/7/17 4,283,550 rounds

In the whole of France and Flanders for the period of 3rd Ypres 27,480,960 rounds the vast majority of this would be at Ypres

Average for British Army in France & Flanders 30/7/1917 to 7/10/1917 2,011,000 rounds per week

Still much less than average weekly at Arras (4.26 million) and Messines (3.25 million)

Maximum expenditure in one day was 28/9/1918 with 943,847 rounds

Peter

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My dad told me he spent almost 6 months after WW2 dumping new cased weapons & munitions in various Lochs in the North of Scotland.

Here in Australia, at one posting I had in Queensland, there were half a dozen bren-carriers supposedly buried beneath the soccer pitch!

Jim

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Maximum expenditure in one day was 28/9/1918 with 943,847 rounds

Peter

Was that on the whole front or just for the start of 4th Ypres?

Ian

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Was that on the whole front or just for the start of 4th Ypres?

Maximum expenditure in rounds by the British Armies in any one day in France and Flanders from Noon 28/9/18 to noon 28/9/18 so not 3rd Ypres.

Peter

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Maximum expenditure in rounds by the British Armies in any one day in France and Flanders from Noon 28/9/18 to noon 28/9/18 so not 3rd Ypres.

Peter

No, not third Ypres but 4th Ypres (see my question)....

Guess 4th Ypres was not the only thing going on on the Western Front on that day, but it was the start of 4th Ypres.

Interestingly another (but this time Royal Naval) record was made that day in support of 4th Ypres. The monitor, HMS General Wolfe, was moored off the Belgian coast. At 0732 hrs on 28th The General Wolfe opened fire with her 18 inch gun from a distance of 36,000 yards (appx 20 miles) ranged on a railyway bridge at Snaerskerke (4m south of Ostende) and in doing so fired the heaviest shell from the biggest gun at the longest range ever used to date in naval action. General Wolfe was one of seven monitors in action in support of 4th Ypres which by the end of the day had made the heaviest shore bombardment of the war.

A day for ordnance records it would seem!

Ian

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I remember reading somewhere that in the run up to the eleventh hour, 11th Nov, `18, a battery of RFA were firing off shells as fast as they could just to save the labour of loading them back on the wagons.

Bill.

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