It seems just incredible, and correct me if I'm wrong, my maths is simply terrible; but each german gun (of 1300) would have fired once every 1.4 minutes.
If that number is even close to accurate then it really gave me a new perspective on the sheer barbaric nature of WW1.
The source is Amber Books: Battles that changed history.
William Phillpott mentions in War of Attrition that from February 21st to 22nd, 1200 guns shelled Verdun, with 'up to forty shells per minute raining down in places'. I've read 1 million shells in ten hours (I also have the book you're reading), so that seems about right.
If you have any other questions, I'd be glad to answer them!
Seems perfectly plausible - At the opening of Op Michael, the Germans fired 3,500,000 shells in 5 hours.
That's 195 shells a second.
For 5 hours.
but each german gun (of 1300) would have fired once every 1.4 minutes.
Remember that even the largest artillery, like the 12"-16" guns on battleships can fire a shell every 30 seconds and keep it up for hours. Much of the artillery in WWI were field guns of around 75mm calibre and capable of shooting at ten times that rate.
I've read in several places that the Americans actually exceeded that during some of the heaviest bombardmants of the Korean War.
Granted, that's nearly 40 years of technological advancement down the line--I just think it's interesting that everbody forgets about the sheer mind-numbing amount of firepower on display along the Korean MLR.