Shell Crisis of 1915
The Shell Crisis of 1915 was a shortage of artillery shells on the front lines in the First World War that led to a political crisis in the United Kingdom. Previous military experience led to an over-reliance on shrapnel to attack infantry in the open, which was negated by the resort to trench warfare, for which high-explosive shell were better suited.[1] At the start of the war there was a revolution in doctrine: instead of the idea that artillery was a useful support for infantry attacks, the new doctrine held that heavy guns alone would control the battlefield. Because of the stable lines on the Western Front, it was easy to build railway lines that delivered all the shells the factories could produce. The 'shell scandal' emerged in 1915 because the high rate of fire over a long period was not anticipated and the stock of shells became depleted.[2] The inciting incident was the disastrous Battle of Aubers, which reportedly had been stymied by a lack of shells.
This article is about British responses to the ammunition shortages. For the Russian shell shortage of 1915, see Economic history of World War I.The shortage was widely publicised in the press. The Times, in cooperation with David Lloyd George and Lord Northcliffe, sought to force Parliament to adopt a national munitions policy with centralised control. This resulted in a transfer of the Munitions Department from the War Office to a cabinet level position in government, and a coalition government with Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions. In 1916 the long-term effects included the fall of the Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and his replacement by Lloyd George in December 1916.[3]
Daily Mail attacks Kitchener[edit]
Shortage of ammunition had been a serious problem since the autumn of 1914 and the British Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Sir John French gave an interview to the Daily Mail (27 March) calling for more ammunition. On the basis of an assurance from Kitchener, Asquith stated in a speech at Newcastle (20 April) that the army had sufficient ammunition.[4]
After the failed attack at Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915, Daily Mail war correspondent, Colonel Charles à Court Repington, sent a telegram to his newspaper blaming lack of high-explosive shells. French had, despite Repington’s denial of his prior knowledge at the time, supplied him with information and sent Brinsley Fitzgerald and Freddie Guest to London to show the same documents to Lloyd George and senior Conservatives Bonar Law and Arthur Balfour.[4]
Daily Mail headline on 14 May 1915, was: "Need for shells: British attacks checked: Limited supply the cause: A Lesson From France".[5] It commented "We had not sufficient high explosives to lower the enemy's parapets to the ground ... The want of an unlimited supply of high explosives was a fatal bar to our success", blaming the government for the battle's failure.[6] However, due to his reputation, the British public were hesitant to question Kitchener, leading to the subsequent circulation decline of the newspapers despite the growing consensus that the political role was ill-suited.[7]
Coalition government[edit]
As the crisis continued, the immediate catalyst for a change in government was the resignation on 15 May of Admiral Fisher as First Sea Lord, owing to disagreements with his ministerial chief, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, over the naval attack on the Dardanelles (a precursor to the subsequent stalemated landings at Gallipoli). Churchill was detested by the Conservatives as he had defected from their party over a decade earlier. Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George and Conservative Leader Bonar Law visited Asquith on 17 May 1915, and after a very brief meeting Asquith wrote to his ministers demanding their resignations,[8] then formed a new coalition government in which he appointed Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, heading a newly-created government department.
The Shells Crisis had allowed Lloyd George to push for a coalition in which the Liberal Party relinquished their full control while the Conservatives remained in a subordinate position.[9]
Since then no purely Liberal government has held office in the UK, although Liberal politicians have held office in subsequent coalitions.
Daily Mail attacks Kitchener[edit]
Whilst Asquith was still forming his new government, a sensational version of the press criticism was printed in the popular Daily Mail on 21 May, blaming Kitchener, under the headline "The Shells Scandal: Lord Kitchener’s Tragic Blunder". Lloyd George had to warn Northcliffe that the campaign was counterproductive and creating sympathy for Kitchener.[10] Kitchener wanted to let the Shells Scandal drop. Stanley Brenton von Donop, Master-General of the Ordnance, demanded an Inquiry to clear his name but Kitchener persuaded him to withdraw the request as it would have led to French’s dismissal.[11]
Kitchener, popular with the public, remained in office as Secretary of State for War, responsible for training and equipping the volunteer New Armies, but lost control over munitions production and was increasingly sidelined from control of military strategy. French was also tarnished by his blatant meddling in politics, a factor which contributed to his enforced resignation in December 1915.