Year 9 Revision Notes for Western Front Food Rations

[SMG65]

I am no expert on what the British soldier ate whilst serving on the Western Front.

The below is the revision notes my 14 year old son has been given on the rations of the British soldier.

In the numerous personal accounts and books I have read on the Great War I have never read anything like the below - meat every 9 days?

Before I declare war on the History Department of my sons school could someone please tell me that I am not deluded and quite a lot of the below is incorrect.

Sean

 

At the start of the war, British soldiers at the front were allowed 10oz of meat and 8oz of vegetables per day, a luxury compared to what would be provided in the years to come. Parcels from home loaded with chocolate, tins of sardines, and sweet biscuits would be a welcome but irregular source of extra nourishment. For day-to-day meals, soldiers’ options were limited. The size of the British Army and the efficiency of the German submarine blockade grew in tandem, with doubly bad results for the state of British Army rations. By 1916, the meat ration was down to 6oz a day, and later, meat was only provided once every nine days. Things were getting worse, and Tommies were beginning to fend for themselves. There are reports of vegetable patches being established in reserve trenches, and of men going hunting and fishing while not in the front-line, both to pass the time and to supplement their meagre rations. The winter of 1916 saw a major shortage of flour. It was replaced by dried, ground-up turnips which produced unappetising, diarrhoea-inducing bread. At this time, the staple food of the British soldier was pea-soup with horse-meat chunks. The hard-working kitchen teams were having to source local vegetables as best they could, and when that was not an option, weeds, nettles, and leaves would be used to whip up soups and stews

[ss002d6252]

Aren't they getting the Turnip part confused with the Germans ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnip_Winter

Craig

[charlie2]

Have a look at SMEBE page 584 on https://archive.org/details/statisticsofmili00grea/page/584/mode/2up

Charlie

Edited 18 June , 2022 by charlie2

[charlie2]

49 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

Aren't they getting the Turnip part confused with the Germans ?

Aren‘t they getting the Turnip part confused with the Germans?

[fellop]

Hi ‘S’

It is a bit of nonsense and I see Charlie2 beat me as I was looking up my copy.

Yes Statistics 1914 – 1920 Page 584 and 589 show scales of rations issued to troops in France and at Home.

If you wish I will bring my copy for you to borrow, when I see you Tuesday evening, and take to show the History Department.

Certainly there are contemporary accounts during the earlier part of the war of [ mainly] officers taking pot shots at rabbits etc to supplement the variety but not to the extent of it becoming the main supply of meat.

Even from January 1918 the daily men's meat ration was still [either] 1lb Fresh or Frozen or 9oz preserved meat.

Regards

Peter

 

Edit:

Field Service Pocket Book 1914 pages 166 – 168 also show scale of rations per man and how carried though of course this only shows as of year of issue unlike Statistics 1914 – 1920 where you can compare year on year.

 

 

Edited 18 June , 2022 by fellop

[BradleyShoebottom]

IT is true that Divisions were encouraged to start gardens in 1918. See https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol8/iss3/4/ This was part of a concerted effort to economize by 4% in rations. The Canadian Corps Administrative Branch war diaries are full of references in Jan/Feb 1918 on briefings given to all levels of command on how to economize food by 4%. AS for meat every 9 days; not likely. Troops rotated through the front trenches on a 4-7 day cycle going into support where is was easier to bring up "hay boxes" of hot food. In reserve, the troops would have congregated at the kitchen wagons to eat. Butchering of meat occurred at the corps and Div level and it was being shipped forward daily even in 1918. 

The only time Canadians really complained about not getting enough food was during the March to Germany in Nov/Dec 1918 when the marching troops at about 25-26 miles a day outpaced the railway reconstruction. The refused to march on 2 separate days after going a day without food. https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol21/iss2/2/.

So my reading of the the revision is Nope, not likely. The Quartermasters would have been fired at Div and Brigade level. AS an example of how good Tommies ate, one only has to look at how tin the Spring of 1918, when the Germans captured British supply dumps that they were amazed and gorged themselves. Their officers had a big problem trying to get the German soldiers moving again.

I am doing my PhD on Canadian  Army logistics on the Western Front and the only real complaints were gasoline can tainted water and tea, cold food, shortage of strawberry jam, and a universal hatred for M&V canned meat and vegetables.

 

[tootrock]

On 18/06/2022 at 09:51, SMG65 said:

Before I declare war on the History Department of my sons school could someone please tell me that I am not deluded and quite a lot of the below is incorrect.

Hi SMG65,

I hope you will let us know the outcome when you do declare war on the History Department!

Martin

[SMG65]

Thank you for the above replies - it will be 'food for thought' for the History Department.

I am in touch with the Head of the Humanities Faculty (who is a decent guy and a good Geography teacher),  with another matter - my son has to revise the Great War, The Holocaust and World War 2 for his exam. He has not been provided with revision material for World War 2 so he asked for his exercise book, the supply teacher said that pupils had been stopped from taking their books home as some were being lost, my son asked how could he revise WW2 and was told to 'Google It'. My reaction resembled the blowing of the Lochnagar Crater and he now has his book.

I will let the dust settle a day or two before I bring this topic to his attention.

Sean

[Poohsticks]

On 19/06/2022 at 16:19, BradleyShoebottom said:

IT is true that Divisions were encouraged to start gardens in 1918. See https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol8/iss3/4/ This was part of a concerted effort to economize by 4% in rations. T

 

I believe that it started a lot earlier than that - I've been researching the 1/4th Royal Berks, and the historian C.R.M.F Cruttwell's account of the battalion, in which he served during the first part of the war,  says when talking about their time in Ploegsteert in spring 1915 "We sowed vegetable seeds also, and ate our own mustard and cress, lettuces and radishes. In this connection, too, I should mention the 4,000 cabbages sent by Messrs. Sutton & Sons, which, planted in the transport lines at Rabot, were left for the consumption of the 5th Battalion when we moved south." (The battalion HQ was in Reading,  and the seeds were presumably provided by Suttons who were also based in the town). He also says of the same time that "The few pheasants which survived a winter with the 4th Division were, I fear, exterminated by us.  Rabbits continued plentiful in spite of rifles and snares". 

  

[A Rankin]

Not sure if there is still interest in this thread, but the Australian War Memorial has just digitized item

AWM25 829/13 - [Written records, 1914-18 War] Circulars, memorandums and correspondence regarding shortage of food. Issues of rations in the trenches. Reduction in rations for the troops. Economy. 1916-1917

which gives a good overview of rations and substitutions made.  https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C3055365

[BradleyShoebottom]

Interesting. I have read the A and Q war diaries and files for the Canadian Corps and there was not much mention of a shortage in 1916-17 other than fodder and oats for horses. In the winter of 1917-18 they did have a 4% reduction in rations, but for the most part, it did not seem noticeable. See PDF attached. Files located at the NAtionla Archives of Canada. Fiel name is the reference. There were many leRG9_III-B-1_vol_1013_file_R-62-3_CdnCorpsHQ_Rations_reduced.pdfctures on "Economizing" in January/Feb 1918 down to battalion level.