which was equivalent to 17 days' shell production per gun. After the battle, French reported to Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, that fatigue and the shortage of ammunition had forced a suspension of the offensive. On 15 March French abandoned the offensive as the supply of field-gun ammunition was inadequate. News of the ammunition shortage led to the Shell Crisis of 1915 which, along with the resignation of Admiral Fisher over the naval attack on the Dardanelles, brought down the Liberal government. The Prime Minister H. H. Asquith formed a new coalition government and appointed David Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions. It was a recognition that the whole economy would have to be adapted for war, if the Allies were to prevail on the Western Front. The battle also affected British tactical thinking with the idea that infantry offensives accompanied by artillery barrages could break the trench warfare stalemate. Casualties The British suffered and the Indian Corps the 40,000 troops in the offensive. The 7th Division suffered the 8th Division the Meerut Division and the Lahore Division In 2010 Humphries and Maker recorded German casualties from 9 to 20 March as in 2018, Jonathan Boff wrote that the British suffered 12,592 casualties and that the German official history estimate of "almost 10,000 men", was closer to 8,500, according to the records of the 6th Army and the diary kept by Crown Prince Rupprecht. The 6th Bavarian Reserve Division suffered from 11 to 13 March, Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 21 Infantry Regiment 14 of VII Corps suffered from 7 to 12 March and Infantry Regiment 13 from 6 to 27 March. During its diversionary assault in support of the main offensive, the 1st Canadian Division suffered nearly Commemoration and legacy The Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial commemorates 4,700 Indian soldiers and labourers who died on the Western Front during the First World War and have no known graves; the location was chosen because it was at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle that the Indian Corps fought its first big offensive action. War graves of the Indian Corps and the Indian Labour Corps are found at Ayette, Souchez and Neuve-Chapelle. Along with the Indian Corps, the battle was the first big battle of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Victoria Cross Corporal William Anderson, 2nd Battalion, The Green Howards. Private Edward Barber, 1st Battalion, The Grenadier Guards. Private William