A MUSE OF FIRE British Trench Warfare Munitions, their Invention, Manufacture and Tactical Employment on the Western Front, 1914 18 Submitted by Anthony James Saunders to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, September 2008. This thesis is available for library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other university. Anthony Saunders
Abstract The emergence of static warfare on the Western Front in late 1914 encouraged the reinvention of devices associated with siege warfare and the invention of hitherto unknown munitions. These munitions included hand and rifle grenades and trench mortars and their ammunition. At the outbreak of war, the British effectively possessed none of these devices and lacked an infrastructure by which they could be quickly designed, manufactured and supplied to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The British met this challenge with considerable success. The subsequent proliferation of trench warfare munitions had profound consequences for the evolution of British tactics on the Western Front. This thesis examines the processes by which these devices were invented, developed into manufacturable devices and supplied to the BEF. It considers their novelty in respect to similar devices from the American Civil War and the Russo-Japanese War. It looks at how their technical evolution affected tactical developments. The thesis discusses the relationship between the technical characteristics of these devices and the evolution of their tactical employment. It also considers how the characteristics of certain munitions, such as the Stokes mortar and the Mills grenade, directly affected tactics. It argues that the tactical employment of these munitions was dependent upon their functionality, utility and reliability. The present thesis provides a different model of trench warfare conducted by the British on the Western Front and, thereby, demonstrates the significance of the novel munitions under discussion and the role they played in changing infantry warfare. This thesis also provides a different view of the Ministry of Munitions from that usually offered. It argues that certain aspects of the Ministry s role in providing the BEF with munitions has been overstated in the standard interpretation of the Ministry s work; the Ministry deliberately underplayed the work of the War Office, while overlooking that conducted by the Royal Engineers in France. 2
O! for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention; A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene. Then should the war-like Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels, Leash d in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire Crouch for employment. William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fifth, Prologue, lines 1 8
Contents Abstract 2 List of figures 6 List of tables 8 Acknowledgements 9 1 Object and Scope 11 Technicalities, invention and novelty 15 The politics of invention 19 A question of anticipation 21 Prior publications 22 Sources, breadth and limitations 27 Summary of objects 29 2 Trench Warfare Munitions before 1914 35 Hand grenades c. 1500 1860 36 Innovation in the American Civil War, 1861 5 38 The Russo-Japanese War, 1904 05 41 Innovation in Manchuria 44 Consequences of the Russo-Japanese War 46 Commercial drive, 1905 14 49 Looking forwards 55 3 The Bureaucracy of Invention 63 The problem of novel munitions 64 Inventing a new process handling novelty 66 Invention and design 70 Evolutions and convolutions of organisation 74 Royal Engineers 78 Towards a common goal 83 4 A Question of Engineering 93 Demand versus supply 93 Evaluating novel munitions 94 Manufacture and inspection 100 A multi-functional approach 104 Output 108 Engineering solutions 112 5 Inventing Grenades 124 Addressing the technical tactical relationship 125 Grenade types 127 Utility of purpose 129 Lethality 135 Functionality and reliability 138 The impracticalities of percussion-fuzed grenades 145 Technical evolutions 149
6 Inventing the Trench Mortar 160 Types of mortar 161 Ammunition and propellants 163 Utility of purpose 166 Lethality and destructiveness 169 Functionality 171 Second-generation developments 176 The problem of fuzing 177 Evolution 182 7 The Evolution of Grenade Warfare 192 Handling procedures 193 Shooting a rifle grenade 197 Throwing techniques 199 Learning the art of bombing 200 The tactics of grenade warfare 207 The rise and fall of grenade warfare 214 8 The Tactical Employment of Mortars 223 Organisation and Drill 224 Battery positions and emplacements 228 Gunnery 234 Tactical roles of mortars 236 Tactical employment of the Stokes mortar 237 Training 244 Tactical maturity and the light mortar 245 9 Conclusions Invention, Firepower and Mobility 252 Asking the right question 252 The question of novelty 256 The role of manufacture 260 Organisation and management 262 Inventors and inventions 266 Tactics and technology 268 A new model of infantry warfare 270 Glossary and Abbreviations 276 Sources and Bibliography 283
List of Figures Fig. 1 British improvised hand grenade from the siege of Mafeking, 1899 37 Fig. 2 Parlour s hand grenade of c. 1834 38 Fig. 3 Ketchum hand grenades 39 Fig. 4 No. 19 hand grenade of 1917 39 Fig. 5 Drawings from Adams s US patent, US45806 41 Fig. 6 Three hand grenades improvised by the Russians at Port Arthur 42 Fig. 7 Japanese soldier in Manchuria with a percussion-fuzed hand grenade 43 Fig. 8 Japanese light mortar used at Port Arthur 45 Fig. 9 No. 1 hand grenade 48 Fig. 10 Detailed drawings of the No. 1 48 Fig. 11 Military and naval attachés pose with Marten Hale at the Faversham works 49 Fig. 12 Leaflet advertising Marten Hale s patented rifle grenade 51 Fig. 13 Marten Hale rifle grenade fitted with its rod 51 Fig. 14 Arming vane which was the cause of prematures 51 Fig. 15 Drawings from GB124837 98 Fig. 16 Engineering drawings of Newton Pippin hand grenade 105 Fig. 17 Captain Todhunter s sketch of three novel devices invented by Newton 105 Fig. 18 3.7-inch Newton mortar, cast from SAA cartridge cases 113 Fig. 19 Output v. demand and cost over time for the Nos 3, 20 & 24 rifle grenades 115 Fig. 20 Output v. demand and cost over time for No. 5 and No. 23 Mills grenades 115 Fig. 21 Percussion-fuzed grenades with short handles 128 Fig. 22 Large fragments from a US hand grenade 136 Fig. 23 X-ray of a grenade wound of the shoulder 136 Fig. 24 Cast-iron body of the Pitcher 136 Fig. 25 Roland hand grenade 139 Fig. 26 Drawings from Roland s Belgian patent of 1912 139 Fig. 27 Mills hand grenade as described in GB2468/15 140 Fig. 28 Differences between the No. 5 and No. 36 grenades 143 Fig. 29 Disassembled No. 5 and No. 36 grenades 143 Fig. 30 Cutaway of a No. 36 and its centrepiece 143 Fig. 31 Humphries, DG and Bellamy grenades 146 Fig. 32 Engineering drawings of experimental Bellamy egg grenade 148 Fig. 33 Evolution of the Hale type of rifle grenade 150 Fig. 34 Newton Pippin rifle grenade 150 Fig. 35 McClintock rifle grenade 151 Fig. 36 Engineering drawing of a stand for firing rifle grenades, 1915 151
Fig. 37 Woolwich 2-inch medium mortar 162 Fig. 38 9.45-inch heavy mortar 164 Fig. 39 6-inch Newton mortar with second-pattern guide rods 165 Fig. 40 3-inch Stokes mortar with second-pattern stand 167 Fig. 41 Bomb for the 3-inch Stokes mortar 174 Fig. 42 Striker and its relationship with the breech in 3-inch Stokes mortar 174 Fig. 43 Time fuze, adapted from the Mills mechanism, for 3-inch Stokes bombs 178 Fig. 44 No. 31 fuze 180 Fig. 45 No. 148 Mk I fuze 180 Fig. 46 No. 110 Mk II fuze derived from the No. 107 Newton fuze 180 Fig. 47 No. 107 fuze 181 Fig. 48 No. 146 fuze 181 Fig. 49 No. 105B fuze, a simple percussion mechanism 181 Fig. 50 No. 147 Vickery fuze with clip instead of tape 181 Fig. 51 Royal Engineer demonstrates correct position for firing cup discharger 198 Fig. 52 Correct stance for firing rodded Mills No. 23 198 Fig. 53 Correct stance for firing a rodded Mills from the shoulder 198 Fig. 54 Starting position for throwing a grenade 199 Fig. 55 Position after throwing a grenade from a deep trench 199 Fig. 56 Throwing a grenade from a kneeling position 199 Fig. 57 Throwing a grenade from a kneeling position 199 Fig. 58 Means of carrying grenades 202 Fig. 59 How to bomb along a trench as taught from early 1915 210 Fig. 60 Variations on the theme; how to negotiate an island traverse 210 Fig. 61 Trench block, 1917 210 Fig. 62 Improvement on the theme 210 Fig. 63 Attacking round traverses with rifle and bayonet 213 Fig. 64 Trench to trench attack, 1917 216 Fig. 65 Platoon tactics when attacking above ground to engage a strongpoint 216 Fig. 66 Australian Stokes mortar detachment demonstrating misfire drill 228 Fig. 67 Trench mortar battery positions 229 Fig. 68 2-inch mortar emplacement in the Middle East 230 Fig. 69 Double emplacement for medium mortars 230 Fig. 70 9.45-inch mortar emplacement 232 Fig. 71 Stokes mortar emplacement, June 1918 233 Fig. 72 Stokes mortar ammunition carriers, Ypres salient, August 1917 241 Fig. 73 Part of Stokes mortar detachment prepare ammunition for a shoot 241 Fig. 74 Stokes mortar detachment carrying the three elements of the mortar 246 Fig. 75 A Stokes mortar detachment ready to advance 246
List of Tables Table 1. British patents relating to hand grenades, 1905 13 54 Table 2. British patents relating to rifle grenades, 1905 14 54 8
Acknowledgements This thesis has its origins in a chance discovery I made in 1978 when working as a Patent Officer in the Principal Directorate of Patents, MoD. While investigating a case concerning Crown use of intellectual property owned by a third-party, I searched the patent abridgements for Class 119, small arms, covering 1915 16. I was surprised to discover patents for grenades and other devices for trench warfare, including the first patents granted to William Mills for the grenade which came to be known as the Mills bomb. In 1997, I set about researching the field of novel munitions invented for trench warfare and, in 1999, Weapons of the Trench War was published by Sutton Publishing, followed by its companion, Dominating the Enemy, in 2000. My work made it apparent to me that this was an under-researched field and that I had only scratched the surface of the subject. The invention and widespread use of such devices led me to speculate on the nature of their effect on the conduct of trench warfare in the First World War. This ultimately led me to undertake the research which is the subject of this thesis. Any project of this scale inevitably requires the assistance of others. I would like to thank everyone who has helped me with this project over the years. Jonathan Falconer, my commissioning editor at Sutton Publishing in the late 1990s, acted as a referee when I applied to Exeter to undertake a PhD. My second referee was Mike Hibberd, formerly of the Firearms and Exhibits Department, Imperial War Museum, who had assisted me with my research for Weapons of the Trench War which subsequently formed a foundation for this thesis. Norman Bonney has been tirelessly helpful. At the time of writing, Norman had recently retired as a lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Territorial Army, in which capacity he is an acknowledged authority in the field of First World War munitions, especially grenades. His expertise has led to him assisting the Belgian Army, for example, in identifying unexploded British ordnance from 1914 18. He has an unrivalled collection of grenades and fuzes from the First World War and an impressive document archive, all of which he has acquired over three decades. I am grateful to him for providing me with copies of the papers concerning the court case brought against William Mills in 1917. He also read the drafts of this thesis and suggested amendments. H A B Newton, the son of the late Henry Newton, was happy to talk to me about his father and his inventions. I was put in touch with him via his sister, a friend of whom told her about a letter I had written to the Derby Gazette about Henry Newton and his family. The Newton family came from Derbyshire and had an engineering business in the town at the time of the First World War. The Newton family gave me access to some of Henry s papers. Alas, many more of them had been lost in a house fire in the late 1970s. In connection with the Newton family, I would also like to thank Mrs Jan Baggaley for providing me with a letter
written by her father, Ralph Goodwin, in June 1976. Mr Goodwin had been an employee of Newton Brothers at the time of the First World War. Professor Ian Beckett, Professor of History at the University of Northampton, very kindly read drafts of my thesis and offered me invaluable advice which I have endeavoured to heed. Professor Jeremy Black, my supervisor in the Department of History in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Exeter, has been a friend as well as my guide for which I am truly grateful. His enthusiasm, insight, knowledge of all things historical, as well as his unwavering faith in me as a researcher, have been expressed with a friendly forthrightness, an approach which is both refreshing and empowering. I would like to thank the Belgian Patent Office for emailing me a pdf of Roland s original patent and I would like to thank the staff at Leeds City Library for emailing me pdf copies of several British patents. I obtained most of my copies of British patents in the late 1990s when undertaking research for Weapons of the Trench War and Dominating the Enemy; at that time, a complete set of patents and abridgements were held in the Science Reference Library in Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. Although somewhat belatedly, perhaps, I would like to thank the staff of that library who were always very helpful in giving me access to the vaults in which the patents were, then, stored. I would also like to thank Phillip Powell, Stock Control Manager in the Department of Printed Books of the Imperial War Museum, London, for photocopying a large number of Stationary Service documents for me. Lisa Anderson of the library of the University of Birmingham very kindly photocopied Mr Stokes and Educated Drainpipe and posted it to me when I was unable to find a copy elsewhere. Finally, I would like to thank the interlibrary loan staff in the library at the University of Exeter for helping me track down copies of The Sphere. 10