Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

- 302 -
made in Austria-Hungary. 15 Other materials came regularly from Schneider suppliers in
France, Skoda factories in Austria-Hungary, and Annstrong industrial works in Britain. 16
The Munitions Bureau consistently tried to order artillery and machine-guns from these
suppliers, but with little luck. 17 Occasionally orders were filled, including a few howitzers
from Germany, two anti-aircraft guns from Britain and several machine-guns from Austria­
Hungary. IS
As an alternative, the Bureau looked to other neutral countries for help, setting up
a satellite office in N ew York in F ebmary 1915, as well as making regular contact with
munitions factories in Demnark and Sweden. 19 It was handicapped in its pursuit of
annaments contracts by the relatively small size of its orders?O Even when orders were
filled, it became increasingly difficult to transport them to the Netherlands as the
belligerents seized annaments as contraband. 21 U-boat action in and around the North Sea
also made deliveries perilous, with the result that a large amount of useful materials lay idle
in foreign ports. 22 Nevertheless, Sweden and Denmark were helpful, providing the
Netherlands with some 12 cm howitzers, aeroplane engines, steel and other metals. 23
The Netherlands did not support a large annaments industry, nor did it have the
raw materials that could form the basis of one. Nevertheless, the military production facility
at Hembmg (near Amsterdam) made rifles, bullets, cartridges and other equipment.
Hembmg's productivity increased during the war, as its facilities were extended and the
number of workers grew?4 The Hembmg factories manufactured a steady supply of rifles to
15 Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden p. 124.
16 Ibid. pp. 124 - 126; Klinkert, Het Vaderland Verdedigd p. 407.
17 See: documents in ARA, "Kabinetsarchief e. a. van het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken 1871 - 1940" entry no.
2.05.18, inventory no. 52, for attempts at buying materials from the belligerents and requests to circumvent
contraband restrictions.
18 Staatscommissie, Verslag BetrefJende de Voorziening in de Behoeften aan Geschut p. 8; Smit, Nederland in de
Eerste Wereldo0 rlog. Tweede deel p. 25.
19 Minister of War to Lieutenant-Colonel A. H. W. J. Boom, 13 July 1915, in ARA, "Requisitie Aangelegenheden
Amerika, 1915 - 1939" [Requisition matters America, 1915 - 1939] archive no. 2.l3.49.02, inventory no. 2; Head of
Munitions Bureau to Minister of War, 29 March 1916, in ARA, "Geheim verbaal-archiefvan het ministerie van
Oorlog/Defensie" entry no. 2.l3 .67, inventory no. 313; Bosboom, III Moeilijke Omstandigheden pp. 108 - 111; Smit,
Nederland ill de Eerste Wereldoor/og. Tweede deel p. 25.
20 Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandighedell p. 109.
21 Ibid. pp.109, 121.
22 Staatscommissie, Verslag BetrefJende de Voorziening in de Behoeften aan Gescllllt p. 11; Bosboom, In Moeilijke
Omstandigheden p. Ill.
23 Staatscommissie, Verslag BetrefJende de Voorziening in de Behoeften aan Geschut p. 8; Bosboom, In Moeilijke
Omstandigheden p. 109.
24 Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden pp. 113 - 114.