“In the modern era, casualties were caused primarily by artillery fired at long distance.”

“This does not mean that artillery is particularly cost-effective for the volume of fire. On one day in 1916, for exam-ple, the British fired 224,000 shells and killed six thousand Germans (a ratio of one hit for thirty-seven shells fired); the Western Front of World War I was the apex for sheer volume of artillery fire, but comparable ratios of shells to casualties are found for World War I and smaller wars of the late twentieth century (Holmes 1985: 170-71).”

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