# United States ammunition production and consumption



## Vicvega (Mar 26, 2022)

greetings.



Боеприпасы (Владимир Спасибо) / Проза.ру




This source of the first post says,


''In total, 7.5 million tons of artillery shells, mines, rockets and engineering ammunition and 7.9 million tons were spent. air bombs - 15.4 million tons. against 17.9 million tons spent by the US armed forces in 1941-1945.''
while comparing vietnam war figures to WW2's.

did US armed forces actually consumed 17.9 million tons of munitions ?










German-Americanammunition-2


Image German-Americanammunition-2 hosted in ImgBB




ibb.co





this charts shows that usa produced 12.2 million tons of munitions between 1941-1945.
so Did the US have more than 5 million tons of ammunition stocks ? or used commonwealth ammunition along with its own ?


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## pbehn (Mar 26, 2022)

The links either dont open or translate. Not saying its true or untrue but could be, depending on what you call a "munition". In the siege of Berlin the Russians dropped more artillery on the city than the allies had in the previous 5 years of war. Although the US entered WW2 in Dec 1941 it wasnt in a position to drop bombs on anything immediately, the bomber offensive in Europe didnt really start until 1943. The USA was involved in Vietnam from 1961 (Bay of Pigs) until 1975.


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## GrauGeist (Mar 27, 2022)

I don't have my data handy at the moment, but that figure of 12.2 million tons seems a bit short.
The U.S. supplied many nations in addition to it's own forces.
The U.S. produced 41.4 billion (yes, billion) rounds of ammunition for rifle/pistol during the war.
So taking into consideration the stockpiles from WWI and additional ordnance produced in the interwar years, plus what was manufactured between 1940 and 1945, the total munition tonnage should be considerably more.

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## EwenS (Mar 27, 2022)

This link gives details of US War Production of all types from 1 July 1940 to 31 Aug 1945 broken down into various categories. Ammunition etc starts at p166 of the original document (p177 of the .pdf)


https://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Stats/US_Monthly_Munition_Prod_1940-45.pdf

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## pbehn (Mar 27, 2022)

GrauGeist said:


> I don't have my data handy at the moment, but that figure of 12.2 million tons seems a bit short.
> The U.S. supplied many nations in addition to it's own forces.
> The U.S. produced 41.4 billion (yes, billion) rounds of ammunition for rifle/pistol during the war.
> So taking into consideration the stockpiles from WWI and additional ordnance produced in the interwar years, plus what was manufactured between 1940 and 1945, the total munition tonnage should be considerably more.


In a discussion years ago about choice of armament for US and UK planes, the amount they had "in stock" played an obvious part in the choice.

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## Vicvega (Mar 27, 2022)

Sorry for the broken second link.









German-Americanammunition-2


Image German-Americanammunition-2 hosted in ImgBB




ibb.co





This was the figures


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