Ordnance

Equipping the British Army for the Great War

In August 1914, Kitchener's ‘Contemptible Little Army' was highly professional, but small and equipped with only what it could carry. Facing it was a force of continental proportions, heavily armed and well supplied. The task of equipping the British Army was truly herculean but had to be undertaken by the ordinary men and women left behind after all able men were called up to fight in the trenches. In time, the government recognized the need for skills of engineering and logistics and those who had survived the onslaught were brought back to work. Women had a key part to play. Ordnance is the story of these men and women and traces the provision of equipment and armaments from raw material through manufacture to the supply routes which put into the hands of our soldiers all the materiel that they needed to win the war.