Imperial Munitions Board

The Imperial Munitions Board (IMB) was a national agency, set up in Canada under the chairmanship of Joseph Wesley Flavelle by the British War Cabinet to alleviate the Shell Crisis of 1915 during the First World War. The Board was mandated to sign contracts on behalf of the British government for the manufacture of war materials in Canada.

It established state-owned factories to produce munitions and materials that could not be produced by the private sector including railroad workshops and small factories to produce heavy artillery shells for the Western Front. The Board also oversaw the production of ships and aircraft. The IMB was dissolved in 1919.

References

• Imperial Munitions Board in the Canadian Encyclopaedia
• Carnegie, David (1925). The History of Munitions Supply in Canada 1914-1918. London: Longmans, Green and Co.