By June 1916 the number of vehicles making the endless round trip between Verdun and Bar-le-Duc to the south would rise to 12,000, |
Major Henry H. "Hap" Arnold with the first Liberty V12 engine completed
World War I: The War Without
End
While strict American
involvement in World War I was relatively brief (March 1917 to November of
1918), the event’s long term consequences to the development American
automobile industry beyond 1918 was significant. The War brought to completion
the establishment of industry standards, a problem recognized as early as 1911.
For example, by 1918 some 200 different
tire sizes were reduced to only 32 used by manufacturers. Standardization was led by Hudson’s Howard
Coffin and the Society of Automotive Engineers(SAE). Initially a fringe group, by
the end of the war the SAE took a leadership role in the creation and dissemination
of automotive technology, a place it holds to this day. Automotive
technology would be critically linked to the development of aviation engine
technology during the war; most significantly Packard’s Jesse Vincent played
the key role in the design of the Liberty V-8 and V-12 engines.
A further
development of note was that of the burgeoning growth of truck manufacturing. Charles Nash, formerly of General Motors and
the head his namesake firm in 1917, became the leading manufacturer in assembling
trucks. Trucks were increasingly seen as
being pivotal to the war effort, and particularly important to the French
success in holding the Germans at bay during the battle of Verdun in 1916. It was said
that without motor trucks Verdun would have fallen to the Germans in this
struggle of attrition. Pierce-Arrow trucks were among those supplying the front
lines during this battle that was described as a “crucible.” American luxury
automobile makers, with long wheelbase vehicles, converted their products to
trucks, and output doubled between 1917 and 1918.
In sum, despite a
record year of production in 1917, American automobile manufacturers also found
capacity to make tractors, airplane engines, tanks, marine gas engines, armored
cars, motorcycles, bicycles, ammunition, antiaircraft guns, helmets, caissons, submarine
chasers, ambulances, and field kitchens. And while 1918 resulted in reduced car
production, a real or imagined gasoline shortage, and a voluntary Sunday
driving abstinence day, the auto mobile industry bounced back with a peacetime
reconversion in 1919 during which 820,400 motor vehicles were made. The entire
episode foreshadowed WWII productivity, when Detroit automobile manufacturers could
rightly be labeled as the “Arsenal of Democracy.”
Very interesting. I had no idea how mechanically-intensive WW1 was. Thank you for your effort.
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