History of the Ministry of Munitions Great Britain

[Skipman]

History of the Ministry of Munitions Great Britain. Munitions, Ministry of, World War, 1914-1918

Volumes 1 & 2

Volumes 3 & 4

Volumes 5 & 6

Volumes 7 & 8

Mike

[SiegeGunner]

Good find, Mike. I seem to remember that there are in all 12 volumes + 1 'secret' volume.

[Guest]

Good find, Mike. I seem to remember that there are in all 12 volumes + 1 'secret' volume.

Cheers Mick I'll have a dekko for the rest

Mike

[Guest]

Not uploaded yet by the look of it, will keep an eye out.

Mike

[ss002d6252]

What was in the 'secret' volume ?

Craig

[Guest]

What was in the 'secret' volume ?

Craig

I would tell you, but I'd have to kill you.

Mike

[MartH]

Yes pray tell us what the secret volume was. An OH I don't know about, sounds great.

Volume 1 to 8 where issued to some libraries, but 9 to 12 don't appear to have been issued.

These appear to be the later editions.

[SiegeGunner]

N&M offers reprints and confirms 12 issued volumes. I remember seeing the full 13-volume set in the archives store of the (then) DTI, shortly before I took early retirement in 2005, and mentioned it to TonyE when I got to know him a year or so later. He knew of the existence of the 'secret' volume and I think he had seen a copy, but if he told me what was in it, I'm afraid I have forgotten. I thought the existence of volume 13 was quite well known, so maybe someone else will be able to enlighten us.

[MaureenE]

Volumes 9-12 were

Volume 9 Review of Munitions Supply

Volumes 10,11,12 The Supply of Munitions

These volumes are available online on the Hathi Trust Digital Library, however, only two are available full view to me, but probably those in North America can view all of them. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100684998

The volumes available full view to me are Volume X and XII. Each consists of six parts, not indexed, and separately numbered. Each part has a Contents page, and Index at the end of the part.

The Supply of Munitions Volume X

Part I Guns http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014525z?urlappend=%3Bseq=5

Part II Gun Ammunition: General http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014525z?urlappend=%3Bseq=109

Part III Gun Ammunition: Shell Manufacture http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014525z?urlappend=%3Bseq=183

Part IV Gun Ammunition: Explosives http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014525z?urlappend=%3Bseq=311

Part V Gun Ammunition: Filling and Completing http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014525z?urlappend=%3Bseq=465

Part VI Anti-Aircraft Supplies http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014525z?urlappend=%3Bseq=561

The Supply of Munitions Volume XII

Part I Aircraft http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014527v?urlappend=%3Bseq=5

Part II Aerial Bombs http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014527v?urlappend=%3Bseq=211

Part III Tanks http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014527v?urlappend=%3Bseq=247 (Includes: Note on the Adoption of the Name "Tank" http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014527v?urlappend=%3Bseq=342 )

Part IV Mechanical Transport Vehicles http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014527v?urlappend=%3Bseq=351

Part V Railway Materials and Ropeways http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014527v?urlappend=%3Bseq=419

Part VI Agricultural Machinery http://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002014527v?urlappend=%3Bseq=477

Here is an unrelated link which lists Explosive Factories

http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?11695-FIRST-WORLD-WAR-Ministry-of-Munitions-and-Munitions-Factories (scroll down) Edit: This link is no longer working. Use the archived link

https://web.archive.org/web/20150718020327/http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/showthread.php?11695-FIRST-WORLD-WAR-Ministry-of-Munitions-and-Munitions-Factories or same/similar text http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/sites/default/files/06 The National Factory Scheme List.pdf

Cheers

Maureen

Edited 30 April , 2022 by MaureenE

[MartH]

N&M offers reprints and confirms 12 issued volumes. I remember seeing the full 13-volume set in the archives store of the (then) DTI, shortly before I took early retirement in 2005, and mentioned it to TonyE when I got to know him a year or so later. He knew of the existence of the 'secret' volume and I think he had seen a copy, but if he told me what was in it, I'm afraid I have forgotten. I thought the existence of volume 13 was quite well known, so maybe someone else will be able to enlighten us.

It is entirely plausible there is a secret volume, the Secret classification stops it from being put in the standard bibliographies, because people don't know it exists . The Official History of the Ministry of Munitions was produced outside the framework of the CID sub committee: Historical Section, and writing started before the war end because it was a Hostilities Only War Department and they wanted to preserve the knowledge, like the History of the Administration of the Blockade, which was Secret. Munitions parts where issued from 1918 onwards and allowed for revised versions but I have never checked versions side by side. To get a Secret rating it has to be pretty bloody special and contain critical stuff. For example WW2 I can think of only 3 volumes (outside the secret cabinet copies of standard OH's due to the references) , the 2 works on Ultra and the one from The Army and War Series, Special Weapons, Volume III, as for GW 2 secret ones: Operations in Persia and History of the Administration of the Blockade. It's not covered on the internet, but most people are cut and paste warriors using search. There are about 5 books covering writing OH's in general, I have them all and I don't think they mention it. Nor does as I am aware: Sources to British Military History, the Bible in these matters. They where marked Confidential and For Official Use Only, which is two secrecy levels combined! They where originally issued in parts and not bound up in volumes.

If you had conversations with the great expert and researcher of original materiel TonyE there must be be something out there, IRC there was a Report done on the Allied Purchasing Committee in Washington and I was lucky enough to have a brief correspondence with him about a copy for sale, I thought he might want it. That might have been Secret. Does this ring a bell? What would get a Secret rating would be the admittance in Government publications of knowingly breaking the international laws on the blockade, which is of course what the whole Purchasing Committee was about.

More research to be done!

[demex400]

Hi
Thank you for the other volumes
I'm looking for The Supply of Ammunition Volume XI online.
It is not available on the website of HathiTrust Digital Library,
thanks in advance
J-P

 

 

 

Hello
Thank you for the other volumes
I'm looking for The Supply of Ammunition Volume XI online.
It is not available on the website of HathiTrust Digital Library,
thanks in advance
J-P

[David Filsell]

I would be fascinated to know if Vol 1 contains any information about wartime production of the notoriously ineffective 4.7 inch gun.

[MBrockway]

On 17/07/2015 at 21:17, SiegeGunner said:

Good find, Mike. I seem to remember that there are in all 12 volumes + 1 'secret' volume.

 

Good article on how the OH of the Ministry of Munitions came to be written, which contains this ...

 

 

Hay, Denys. “The Official History of the Ministry of Munitions 1915-1919.” The Economic History Review, vol. 14, no. 2, 1944, pp. 185–190.

 

Available online if you have JSTOR access:  www.jstor.org/stable/2590428

 

Mark

 

[MaureenE]

Volumes 1-12 are now available online, but alas, no "Secret volume"

In addition to the above (click on the underlined words)

Volumes 8-9. Volume 8 Control of Industrial Capacity and Equipment. Volume 9 Review of Munitions Supply Vol 8, Vol 9 Archive.org, Google Books;

Volume 8 seems to be mainly about factories.

Volume 10 The Supply of Munitions Archive.org, Google Books    Parts 1-6 as above. as above

Volume 11 The Supply of Munitions Parts 1-6 Trench Warfare Supplies, Chemical Warfare Supplies, Optical Munitions and Glassware, Rifles, Machine Guns, Small Arms Ammunition Archive.org, Google Books; 

Volume 12 The Supply of Munitions Archive.org, Google Books  Parts 1-6 as above.

Maureen

[Dust Jacket Collector]

I’d be interested to know if anyone has any original volumes they’d like to sell. I have volumes 1,3,5,8,9,10 & 11 so I’m missing 5 of them (I don’t believe there was a ‘secret’ volume).

[MPS]

Very useful links. Thanks for posting them.