PETROLEUM’S PART IN THE GREAT WAR
A perusal of the preceding chapters of this little work will have made
it clear to the reader that petroleum and its products play a most
important part to-day in the life of nations: if, however, one would be
impressed with the immensely significant rôle which petroleum products
have played in the conduct of the great European War, a brief reference
to the subject will amply suffice. From the commencement of the Titanic
struggle in 1914, it became obvious to those who were most competent
to judge that, if victory was to be on the side of the Allies, it was
imperative that they should possess sufficient reserves of petroleum
products for all purposes, for it was evident then that activity would
not be limited to armies on the land, but that the air and the sea
would also become battle-grounds whereon the destinies of nations would
in part be decided.
Germany, too, saw this; before the war it had been practically
dependent upon regular supplies from the United States as well as
from Roumania, but the bulk of its requirements came from the former
mentioned country. With its States’ oil shipments cut off, it turned
its attention to securing at least part of its stocks from the neutral
North-Western European countries, which, in their turn, were likewise
dependent upon America. The ruse worked for some time, and the
unsuspecting American exporters shipped cargoes to Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden with little idea that the bulk of these were ultimately to find
their way into Germany. It was only when the figures were published in
the States as to the abnormally large quantities of petroleum products
that had been sent to the European neutral countries that, to the
thinking mind, it became obvious something was wrong.
I can modestly claim to have called the attention of the British
Government to this underhand proceeding early in 1915, when I not
only gave them details of cargoes which had been delivered to various
North-Western European ports _en route_ to Germany, but also managed
to secure the names of vessels all laden with such supplies, which at
that time were crossing the Atlantic. Mr. Winston Churchill, to his
credit be it said, acted without delay, and within a few days, as the
vessels passed the North of Scotland, they were stopped, and--well, to
cut a long story short, this country got the petroleum products which,
in accordance with the original plan, would have gone to Germany.
Some time afterwards there came a voice of protest from one or two
interested persons in those neutral countries, for they declared that
not a single barrel of petroleum had gone over to Germany, but evidence
was soon forthcoming to show how well Germany’s ruse had worked for
some months, and a prosecution in one of those countries made against
an importing firm, for actually sending petroleum supplies into
Germany, effectively closed the protest from those who would have liked
the enemy’s desires to have been undisturbed.
There is not the slightest doubt that Germany at that time was in dire
straits for sufficient petroleum products for its military purposes:
had the war been somewhat delayed in its commencement, she would have
been far better prepared, for, under the auspices of the Government,
there had been laid down an elaborate programme for the importation
and distribution of Roumanian petroleum products throughout Germany.
As it was, the country was unprepared, and, though in other directions
every possible precaution had been taken to carry through an elaborate
military programme of offence, the prospective dearth of sufficient
supplies of petroleum products necessitated the enforcing of the
most stringent regulations with regard to the uses of all petroleum
products, excepting for military purposes.
The taking of the Galician fields from the Central Armies by Russia
gave a serious set-back to Germany’s military plans, and it was only
when the Russians had to withdraw from Lemberg that the enemy was able
to count upon sufficient supplies to meet his military requirements.
To an extent, he was even then doomed to disappointment, for, when his
armies arrived on the Galician fields, they found that practically the
whole of the petroleum reserves had been destroyed, and a large number
of the prolific producing wells more or less permanently damaged.
Nor, to my mind, was the advance into Roumania prompted by the idea
of territorial gains so much as to secure control of the country’s
oil-fields. Here, again, Germany’s desires were in part thwarted,
for the efforts of the British Military Mission, to which I refer
elsewhere, had been eminently successful.
From that time onward, however, Germany’s supplies of petroleum
products were secured, and that she turned them to account was a matter
of common knowledge. Germany, naturally, greatly valued the acquisition
of the Roumanian oil-fields, and it must be to its people a great
disappointment that the whole of these immensely prolific regions for
oil production are now permanently removed from the nation’s grasp.
Unfortunately, the British Government did not seriously appreciate the
importance of petroleum products in war as well as peace until the
war cloud of 1914 was about to burst. It had taken no notice of the
suggestions made from time to time that in our own country there might
be vast petroleum reserves awaiting development, and it had not even
shown any encouragement to the Scottish shale-oil industry. All that
it had done, and even this was on the eve of war, was to invest over
£2,000,000 in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ltd., for the development
of the Persian oil-fields, so that the Navy could secure ample supplies
of fuel oil. But here, however, there were difficulties ahead, for the
Persian fields are in the interior of the country and have to rely upon
pipe-lines to bring the supplies to the coast.
Everything, therefore, depended upon the security of the pipe-line,
and the idea which was in the minds of many who opposed the scheme as
to the possibility of supplies being cut off by the activities of the
insurgents, was by no means a mistaken one; the pipe-line was, in fact,
partially destroyed, and the transport of fuel oil held up for a long
time.
As a nation, we have all along had to depend upon imported petroleum
products, and, inasmuch as our supplies could be drawn at will from
a variety of producing countries, the idea that we might at one time
find ourselves cut off from supply does not appear to have occurred to
many. No sooner had the war started, however, than we found, owing to
the closing of the Dardanelles, that both Russia and Roumania could no
longer attend to our requirements, while the Far East, owing to the
great ocean journey necessitated to this country (and the quickest way
lay through the Mediterranean) could not maintain regular shipments
with us. It is fortunate that we found the United States willing, and
from the start very desirous, to do all that was possible to help us
out of a difficulty; while Mexico, with its wealth of British oil
interests, catered in every way for the meeting of the enormous demands
we made upon its resources.
To say that petroleum products have played a highly-important part in
the conduct of the war is but to under-estimate facts. The importance
of their part has been equal to that of the supply of guns and shells,
and, when the statement was made in the House of Commons in 1917 that
adequate supplies of petroleum were quite as essential as men and
munitions, petroleum’s part was then not over-stated. Rather would I
say it was on the contrary, for, had there been at any time a dearth
of any classification of petroleum products, then the vast naval and
army organization, both on and across the water, would immediately have
lost its balance, and our great fighting units would automatically have
become useless. Just think of it for a moment.
To-day, our great naval fighters--take the _Queen Elizabeth_, for
instance--rely upon fuel oil for purposes of power, while our second
and third line units must also have it, for, whether it be fuel oil or
the lighter products of the oil refinery--I refer to motor spirit--it
matters not, so far as supply is concerned. The whole of our winged
fleets in the air must, of necessity, be useless unless they can
regularly draw large quantities of motor spirit, and the volume they
consume, even on a single trip, would surprise many, though it is not
possible here to enter into figures.
At first sight one might be inclined to think that, apart from
petroleum products being a very useful adjunct to the organization of
battles on land, their use is not of a very real nature, but, if we
pause for one moment, our first impressions are disillusioned.
It was my privilege at the end of 1917, thanks to the kindness of
the British Foreign Office, to pay a visit to the fronts of France
and Flanders, and there to have an opportunity of seeing the part
which petroleum products did actually play. The immensity of this
importance cannot be easily grasped, nor easily described. We all
know the remarkable progress which had been made in regard to the
extension of the railway systems throughout the zones of battle, but
it will surprise many to learn that it was when the rail-heads had
been reached, and between there and the real battle front, that motor
spirit had the realm of transport to itself. Tens of thousands of heavy
motor vehicles took up the work of transport when it left the railway,
and it was this service that was required to see not only that our
millions of men daily received their food, but each and every sort of
ammunition also. But it was not even when the front line of battle was
reached that motor spirit had finished its work. Those great machines
of war--the tanks--had to remain stationary if they were not fed by
large supplies of spirit, while petroleum, too, took a primary position
in the making of the liquid fire which now and again we heard of as
causing such havoc to Fritz. But, at its best, the railway was somewhat
slow at the Front, no doubt owing to the enormous congestion which
was inseparable from the reign of a state of war. Consequently, whole
fleets of motor vehicles were employed day and night in a ceaseless
stream of traffic, from the coastal ports right up to the zone of
battle. Without divulging secrets, it is safe to say that that branch
of the service alone demanded millions of gallons of motor spirit
weekly.
Both after as well as before battle, the products of petroleum were
essential, for, when the Red Cross vehicles took up their humane work
of transporting the wounded heroes of the fight, those, too, called for
innumerable quantities of motor spirit. And when darkness had fallen
the oil lamp came into general use. It was to be found wherever there
was a vestige of life in those zones of battle: the soldiers in their,
at times, lonely dug-outs, used oil for cooking as well as for light,
and all vehicular traffic was guided from disaster along the roads by
the use of oil, which also offered the only source of artificial light
in the Red Cross vehicles. What an immense organization it was which
depended for its ceaseless activities upon the products of petroleum!
One day, while at General Headquarters, I expressed a desire to see
the methods by which all that world of activity secured its necessary
supplies of petroleum products regularly, when once they had arrived
in France in bulk. A few days later, I was, accordingly, allowed to
visit the immense central depot at Calais, at which all the petroleum
products required for use in the organization of transport were dealt
with. It is safe to say that at no centre in the world did there
exist such an extensive petroleum depot, nor anywhere else was there
an organization upon whose perfect working so much depended. Though
motor spirit necessarily occupied the first position of importance,
practically the whole range of products was dealt with. The motor
spirit was received in bulk, but at the depot had to be measured into
the familiar 2-gallon can (which was made on the spot) and sent up
country in special trains each day. Specially coloured tins denoted
the best quality of the spirit, and it was that which was reserved for
the numerous aerodromes in France and Flanders. The magnitude of that
branch of the depot might be guessed when I state that at the time of
my visit considerably over 2,000,000 2-gallon petrol tins were being
either stored or filled for up country dispatch.
All kinds of lubricants were also essential for the purposes of war,
for even motor spirit itself would be of little use for the internal
combustion engines, if the engines could not secure their regular
supplies of lubricating oils. These, too, had to be dispatched with
remarkable regularity to every section of the battle zones, whilst, as
I have suggested earlier, the daily requirements of war necessitated
the distribution of illuminating oil in large quantities.
But no reference to petroleum’s part in the great European war would be
complete were it not to include mention of the way in which supplies
of toluol assisted in securing victory to the Allies. Toluol, as is
known, is necessary for the production of high explosives, and in the
early stages of the great conflict, the output of high explosives was
considerably restricted by the absence of sufficient quantities of this
necessary explosive primary.
It was at that time that a discovery of the utmost importance was made,
for, as the result of investigations carried out at the Cambridge
University, it was found that the heavy petroleums of Borneo contained
large percentages of toluol.
Sir Marcus Samuel, Bart., the Chairman (and the founder) of the Shell
Transport and Trading Company, Ltd., lost no time in apprising the
British Government of the discovery, for it is in the Borneo oils that
the Shell Company and its allied concerns are chiefly interested.
The offer for the delivery of these immense quantities of toluol was
eagerly accepted by the British and Allied Governments, and from that
time onward, the supply of high explosives was practically unlimited.
The French and Italian Governments have asserted that, but for this
specific offer of toluol, the manufacture of high explosives would have
had to remain so limited, that it would have been impossible to bring
about an Allied Victory in 1918. Their thanks were publicly extended
to the Shell Company at the conclusion of hostilities, and Mr. H. W.
Deterding and the Asiatic Petroleum Company were specially thanked,
while as far back as 1915, Sir Marcus Samuel, Bart., received the
thanks of the British Government for his invaluable war services. It
was only after the firing of the guns had ceased on all Fronts, that it
was permissible to record in what a remarkable manner these services
were rendered.
The exigencies of space have prevented my dealing, excepting in the
most brief manner, with this interesting subject: I only hope I have
succeeded in showing that, in times of war, as well as in those of
peace, petroleum products occupy the position of first importance.