Faulty Ammo - Somme?
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clevelandtim
4 DIVISION: BRIGADE TRENCH MORTAR BATTERY (31 MAY 1916 - 29 APR 1918) Made mention of faulty ammunition, in late June 1916. Any chance this is part of the wider report of dud ammo that artillery had at the Somme? I had read somewhere years ago that much of the ammo for artillery that was hastily made in 1915 in preparation for the Somme offensive was defective. The entry from late June actually mentions the ammo going off due to handling accidents and all ammo being re-called. Thought it was kind of interesting.
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simonedi
moderator
ive read about it too, seems fairly likely. Not sure if one of the historians know bit more
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ChrisKemp
scientist
There was a 'Shell Crisis' in 1915 in Britain.
Essentially use of artillery shells was outstripping production, particularly in high explosive shells. The organisation of munition production was pretty haphazard with no real central organisation or standardisation. It got to the point that some guns were only allowed to fire a couple of shells a day and, as the shells were not often well made, theey were liable to be duds or to explode within the artillery barrel itself.
After the issue became a big scandal in the papers the 'Ministry of Munitions' was created (with Lloyd George at its head) to take control of national munitions production (and the employment details of the workers).
Whilst munitions became more reliable after this point it is not inconceivable that dangerous shells were still in munition piles by the Somme. That could well be what has happened here.
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clevelandtim
It seems that based on the diary entries, some of the rounds were so poorly made they were even exploding during regular handling of the ammunition.
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