Logistics.

This is coolbert:

Still yet more extracts with my commentary from original articles as seen at the isegoria.net Internet web site topic the Great War.

"Military Logistics: A Brief History"

PROTRACTED WAR AND THE MOBILIZATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL BASE OF A NATION TO PROVIDE WAR-MAKING STUFF TO THE TROOPS. THAT CONTINUOUS AND UNENDING FLOW OF MEN AND MATERIAL NOW KNOWN AS LOGISTICAL OPERATIONS.

"Historically, it was always easier to supply an army on the move, because the army 'lived off land' — meaning it took what it wanted from the locals."

"Military Logistics: A Brief History notes that that all changed with the Great War"

"The First World War was a milestone for military logistics. It was no longer true to say that supply was easier when armies kept on the move due to the fact that when they stopped they consumed the food, fuel and fodder needed by the army. From 1914, the reverse applied, because of the huge expenditure of ammunition, and the consequent expansion of transport to lift it forward to the consumers. It was now far more difficult to resupply an army on the move, while the industrial nations could produce huge amounts of war materiel, the difficulty was in keeping the supplies moving forward to the consumer."

My comments:

* At least by 1865 the requirement per-day to supply the 100,000 man Army of the Potomac was two-thousand five-hundred [2,500] wagon loads of supply. That merely to SUSTAIN. During a period of combat even more was needed?

* Lieutenants think tactics, generals think logistics? The latter in many cases possessing business degrees, such is the nature of modern warfare, the managerial aspect of thee command echelon not unlike that the executives of a commercial enterprise.

* When thinking of logistics during the Great War the first thought that comes to my mind is Etaple [properly pronounced E-top.] A city of one-hundred thousand [100,000] English troops where before there was just a village and farmland. Etaple the rear-base area for British Army units moving to and fro the front.  Etaple even having a piggery and chicken ranch to supply fresh meat to the troops.

It is often thought that the Swine Flu epidemic of 1918 began at Etaple. Influenza as having jumped" from pigs to humans at the camp! The rest is history.

coolbert.