THE WORLD WAR: WESTERN THEATRE The administration of supply and transport became of the first importance as the World War developed into a struggle be tween two groups of nations, each using the full resources of civilization to exhaust the other. In the last stage, supply was the determining factor; munitions, food, equipment, railways, roads, ships, had become the most important things, and victory inclined to the force which could best maintain supply, as well as men, at some particular point; which could best develop, conserve and transport its material. At the same time, in foodstuffs, forage, clothing, timber and metals, and in transport material, the world shortage was acute. Thus the work of administration was not only very .heavy because of the number of combatants and the development in scale of equipment, but also because of the eco nomic scarcity owing to world exhaustion.
When the armies first took the field in 1914, Germany was at a clear advantage. She had prepared for the war with meticulous care. The French administrative services in 1914 appeared much weaker than the German if examina tion were confined to plans and materiel. The troops were not as well provided for, the transport organization not as well planned. But if the human factor were taken into consideration, much of the handicap was made up. The French showed a genius for improvization on the actual battle-field and a faculty for "getting there" with inferior means. Their food scales for man and beast (to give an example) spelt scarcity in British eyes : but they sufficed. The British administrative services in 1914 were well organized both in supply and transport. But the British force was small, and though its scale of transport was generous corn pared with the French, the total was only 2 50 motor-cars, 9so motor-lorries, and 40,00o horses. With railway transport it had at first no concern, as the French took charge of that.
As the war developed, the Ger mans suffered from a steady deterioration as compared with the French and the British. The war had become a contest of materiel,
in which Germany could not keep up. The French, on the .other hand, were able to develop their supply and transport on more generous lines with the help of British and American resources. The British developed a complete machine of administration, helped by the fact that the nation took the view that all reasonable expenditure was justified in securing for the troops the best possible chance of victory and the best possible comfort in the trenches. But the Germans, considering the depletion of their resources, kept up a wonderful efficiency in supply and transport. They realized, perhaps more clearly than the other armies, the importance of these services.
During the long period of "trench warfare" which followed the battle of the Marne, the administrative systems of the three armies were adapted to new conditions, the chief of which were : an enormous increase of ammunition expenditure, and a great simplification of transport, which in a stabilized warfare could follow almost a civilian routine disturbed only by the chances of shell fire and aerial bombs. Administration thus, whilst it had to cope with the progressive increase in the scale and variety of supply per division, was given as a rule ample time to increase its transport facilities. It could add to its broad-gauge railway tracks, supplement them by light railways and tramways as well as by motor roads, and develop the canal systems as useful adjuncts. As the war opened out, with the development of great attacks on both sides, problems of supply and transport became more difficult. In facing such a German effort as the Verdun attacks of 1916, the French had a very difficult problem of transport, which was met by a motor lorry mobilization, the success of which was one of the great feats of the war.