ondence which had taken
place between myself and the Government on the question of the supply
of ammunition be made at once, and I sent my Secretary, Brinsley
FitzGerald, with Captain Frederick Guest, one of my A.D.C.s, to
England with instructions that these proofs should be laid before Mr.
Lloyd George, who had already shown me, by his special interest in
this subject, that he grasped the deadly nature of our necessities. I
instructed also that they should be laid before Mr. Arthur J. Balfour
and Mr. Bonar Law, whose sympathetic understanding of my
difficulties, when they visited me in France, had led me to expect
that they would take the action that this grave exigency demanded.
Together with the correspondence, I sent the following memorandum:--

(_Secret._)

INFORMATION REGARDING AMMUNITION

1. Large quantities of high-explosive shells for field guns have
become essential owing to the form of warfare in which the Army is
engaged. The enemy is entrenched from the sea to the Swiss frontier.
There is no flank in his position that can be turned. It is necessary,
therefore, for all offensive operations to start by breaking the
enemy's line, which presupposes the attack of formidable field
entrenchments. Shrapnel, being the man-killing projectile which is
used against troops in the open, is primarily used in defence. In
offensive operations it is used for searching communication trenches,
preventing the enemy's reinforcements intervening in the fight,
repelling counter-attacks, and, as an alternative for high-explosive
shell, for cutting wire entanglements. It is, however, ineffective
against the occupants of the trenches, breastworks, or buildings. It
is, therefore, necessary to have high-explosive shell to destroy
parapets, obstacles, buildings, and many forms of fortified localities
that the enemy constructs, more particularly his machine-gun
emplacements. Without an adequate supply the attack is impotent
against the defenders of field fortifications, as the first step
cannot be taken. Guns require 50 per cent. of high-explosive shell.
Howitzers use high-explosive shell almost exclusively.

2. We have found by experience that the field guns actually engaged in
offensive operations, such as Neuve Chapelle, fire about 120 rounds
per gun per day.

Heavy guns and howitzers, according to their calibre, fire
less in proportion. The guns of the whole Army are of course never
equally heavily engaged at the same ti