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.