The inadequate organisation of the rear, the orgy of theft, high prices, profiteering and luxury, for which the front paid in blood, naturally afforded material for propaganda. The Army, however, suffered most heavily from the lack of technical means, especially of ammunition.
It was only in 1917 that General Sukhomlinov's trial disclosed to the Russian Army and to public opinion the main causes of the military catastrophe of 1915. Plans for replenishing the Russian Army stores had been completed, and credits for that purpose assigned as early as in 1907. Curiously enough, these credits were increased on the initiative of the Commission for National Defence, not of the Ministry of War. As a rule, neither the Duma nor the Ministry of Finance ever refused war credits or reduced them. During Sukhomlinov's tenure of office the War Ministry obtained a special credit of 450 million roubles, of which less than 300 millions were spent. Before the war, the question of providing the Army with munitions after the peace-time stores were exhausted was never even raised. It is true that the intensity of firing reached, from the very outbreak of war, unexpected and unheard-of proportions, which upset all the theoretical calculations of military specialists in Russia and abroad. Naturally, heroic measures were necessary in order to deal with this tragic situation.
Meanwhile, the supplies of ammunition for the reinforcements that came to the front--at first only 1/10th equipped, and later without any rifles at all--were exhausted as early as in October, 1914. The Commander-in-Chief of the South-Western front telegraphed to G.H.Q.: "The machinery for providing ammunition has completely broken down. In the absence of fresh supplies, we shall have to cease fighting, or else send troops to the front in an extremely precarious condition." At the same time (the end of September) Marshal Joffre inquired "whether the Imperial Russian Army was adequately supplied with shells for the uninterrupted conduct of war." The War Minister, General Sukhomlinov, replied: "The present condition of the Russian Army in respect of ammunition gives no ground for serious apprehension." Orders were not placed abroad, and Japanese and American rifles were refused "in order to avoid the inconvenience due to different calibres."