Editorial: Superior ordnance
While the major credit for the success of the invasion of France and the campaign in Italy obviously should go to the men who face the bullets, the enterprise could not have been so successful were it not for the superb equipment in the hands of the troops, equipment which enabled them to blast down strong German defenses.
It is not generally realized how many new weapons have been designed during this war. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, commanding general of the U.S. Army Service Forces, recently said that “with the exception of the Garand rifle, there is hardly a piece of equipment un use today that existed at the beginning of the war.”
It is a bit difficult to think of Uncle Sam as an outstanding designer of implements of war, because he has been interested almost solely in the peacetime arts. In World War I, this country did not distinguish itself through the designing of brand-new weapons. But in this conflict, the inventive genius of America really got into stride.
Gen. Somervell points out that the best test of the value of American equipment is the fact that:
Our field commanders, instead of calling for equipment patterned after foreign models, as they did in the last war, are completely satisfied with the Made-in-USA weapons. They’re not asking for any British or German equipment.
The achievement of the ordnance division is more remarkable when it is remembered that the Germans had the advantage in this field as, being the aggressors, they laid their plans far ahead. They framed the pattern for the new type of warfare and they knew what type of equipment they wanted to prosecute such a war. It is to the credit of America that it surpassed the war’s creators in inventiveness and ingenuity.