WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON,
May 10, 1919.To: Col. LEONARD P.. AYRES,
Chief of the Statistics Branch of the General Staff.SIR: Now that the negotiations of the peace commission are drawing to a close there is general desire for a stocktaking of the efforts made and the results achieved by the United States in the war. In addition to the other reports being prepared by the different divisions of the War Department there is need for a statement which shall set forth the significant facts and figures with respect to those major steps in our military preparation and action which, taken together constitute the record of our participation in the war.
These main steps are not difficult to distinguish from the innumerable details connected with them. They include such major enterprises as raising the men, training them, transporting them overseas, furnishing small arms, artillery, and airplanes, conducting battle operations, and caring for the sick and wounded. It is important that there should be available at an early date an authoritative account giving the important facts about these consecutive operations of the war so that the more detailed reports that are beginning to appear may be judged in their. proper setting and perspective.
For these reasons I wish you would have prepared as promptly as possible a brief and simple statistical report showing what was accomplished by the department and the cooperating agencies during the war.
Very truly, yours,
NEWTON D. BAKER,
Secretary of War.LETTER OF TRANSMISSION. WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington, May 31, 1919.To: Hon. NEWTON D. BAKER,
Secretary of War.SIR: In accordance with your instructions there is transmitted herewith a statistical summary of the larger steps in the military preparation and action of the United States in the late war. The data presented have been compiled by the several sections of the Statistics Branch of the General Staff. In the main they set forth facts taken from the reports made by the Branch each week during the war to the President, to yourself, and to the Chief of Staff. These have been supplemented by facts and figures secured from the offices of the Statistics Branch maintained during the war at General Headquarters and at the headquarters of the Services of Supply in France. Some of the data have also been secured from the office of the Statistics Branch maintained at the headquarters of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace in Paris. Other data have been taken from the reports of the Interallied Bureau of Statistics, of which the Statistics Branch has been the American agency, and from the files of the Supreme War Council at Versailles with which the Branch has maintained close contact.
While it is still impossible to secure final figures on some points or entirely reliable ones on others, care has been taken to insure such degree of reliability in the data presented as is reasonably feasible. Since most of the data have been taken from compilations which have been currently maintained for many months, and which have been subjected to repeated checking and revision, it is believed that they are in the main fairly trustworthy.
Very truly, yours,
LEONARD P. AYRES
Colonel, General Staff, Chief of Statistical Branch.
|
1. British and American forces
on western front 1. Men registered and inducted
1. Results of physical examinations,
by States |
| Total armed forces, including Army, Navy, Marine Corps, etc. | 4,800,000 |
| Total men in the Army | 4,000,000 |
| Men who went overseas | 2,086,000 |
| Men who fought in France | 1,390,000 |
| Greatest number sent in one month | 306,000 |
| Greatest number returning in one month | 333,000 |
| Tons of supplies shipped from America to France | 7,500,000 |
| Total registered in draft | 24,234,021 |
| Total draft inductions | 2,810,206 |
| Greatest number inducted in one month | 400,000 |
| Graduates of Line Officers' Training Schools | 80,568 |
| Cost of war to April 30, 1919 | $21,850,000,000 |
| Cost of Army to April 30, 1919 | $13,930,000,000 |
| Battles fought by American troops | 13 |
| Months of American participation in the war | 19 |
| Days of battle | 200 |
| Days of duration of Meuse-Argonne battle | 47 |
| Americans in Meuse-Argonne battle | 1,200,000 |
| American casualties in Meuse-Argonne battle | 120,000 |
| American battle deaths in war | 50,000 |
| American wounded in war | 206,000 |
| American deaths from disease. | 67,500 |
| Total deaths in the Army | 115,500 |
