THE COST OF A MODERN WAR

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE COST OF A MODERN WAR

Heavy Price For Destructive Powers

The cost of war has gone up, along with a lot of other things, since nations did their figuring in 1918, says the “New York Times.”

If the World War cost an estimated £40,000,000,000 and with interruptions to trade, property destruction and the like, this figure has been added up to £70,000,000,000—it is' now apparent that any war of to-day on the same scale could boost these figures considerably. New and improved weapons, more expensive construction and higher cost of materials are chiefly responsible. Soldiers’ wages have not gone up much, but their wages are only a small factor in the w'hole complicated picture of modern warfare.

Basically, there are certain war costs that can be judged fairly accurately in view of World War experience. Ammunition, as it is being consumed in China and Spain, for example, can be estimated to cost from £l6O to £2OO a ton, for all kinds of ammunition, from small arms to shrapnel and air bombs. An army of six divisions, or 150,000 men, with 300 field guns, might well do away with 2000 tons of artillery ammunition, 1000 tons of small arms ammunition and 100 tons of air bombs in the first day of fighting in a major effort.

Which boils down to the fact that six divisions, in a day of really heavy action, ean shoot away £500,000 worth of ammunition. Every round fired from a 75 mm. gun costs slightly under £2. Shrapnel costs about £3 a pound. An airplane that lets go of two 1000-pound bombs sets off more than £l6O worth of destructive power. On the naval side of warfare there are such costs to consider as £2500 for a modern torpedo, while a 14-inch shell

complete with detonating charge costs about £24. It can be assumed, however, that a bombardment group of sixty bombers would release up to 100 tons of explosive during an important day’s fighting, at £l6O a ton. This is without consideration for cost of airplanes shot down. Additional to all these costs would be all the varied costs of weapons, transportation, food, communication and the like, plus a host of intangible factors which might increase the costs to the point of doubling them and more. Decidedly expensive at the present time is the cost of preparing for war. Modern battleships, fully equipped, cost £12,000.000. The United States Army’s new “flying fortress” bombers cost £50,000 each. Britain’s rearmament programme of £1,500,000,000. for five years is about as much as Britain spent during four years of the World War. There are three new weapons of war to consider, the'taiik, bombing airplane and poison gas. Defensive measures have been complicated by anti-aircraft guns and precautions. There is need for thicker or more expensive armour plate on battleships. Civilian protection is a new factor, involving supplies of gas masks and extensive and expensive air raid precautions. To attempt to gather all this together in even an estimate of future war costs is, the experts are agreed, a matter of guesswork where even guessing is futile. Also, war-time economics is a thing unto itself. A ton of small arms ammunition, say 25,000 rounds, might cost £lBO to produce, but not having that ton of ammunition when needed might make it worth its weight in gold.