Rations for troops in France

[Penywern]

Hello All

Here's a question for you all, what was the daily food ration for the troops in France, I seem to have an image of bread like cardboard and tea tasting of petrol, OK thats taking it to common belief, but what did they get.

I ask this due to the fact my G Uncle left a diary, and oddly he kept a record of extras he and mates aquired while in France as he gives the prices in Francs, which in itself I would assume is unusal. But what has surprised me is some of the items.

Regular items seem to be 'Choc, Biscuits & butter' to name a few. BUT he also lists Pineapple, Bananas, Crab & Apricots.

Interested to hear your thoughts on this....

Phillip

[6th Shropshires]

Hi Phillip

Army food was and still is according to my two lads, very boring. Soldiers made up for this by buying from France civives, who tended to over charge. Eggs and bacon seem to be a favourite but stuff like Pineapple, Bananas, Crab & Apricots would be very nice extras. Your great uncles diary sounds like a very interesting insight into the every day life of Tommy Atkins, have you ever thought about copying it and sending a copy to somewhere like the IWM.

Annette

[mhifle]

Here is some ration information from Gallipoli.

Mark

Here is some ration information from Gallipoli.

Mark

[reformbill]

The Field Service Pocket Book Pp.166-174 ( H.M.S.O 1914 rep.1916) available from The Naval and Military Press, contains quite a bit about rations.

My father was a gunner with 160 Seige Battery R.G.A. and from his letters home the following extracts may be of interest. Because the Brigade was 'out of the line' from the 13th October 1918 to the end of the month he had time to write long letters. On the last day of October the Brigade was on the move to Briastre and then Neuville to shell Mormal Forest . Zero hour for the attack on Le Quesnoy was 5.30am on the 4th November.

19th October 1918 ( out of the line Brusle - near Tincourt)

In his ‘shack’ he had accumulated a larder of good things “On one side is a tin of sausages, a tin of Quaker Oats, a packet of Flaked rice and a tin of condensed milk, while on the other side is a jar of honey, a packet of cream cheese and some biscuits.” Some had come from food parcels, others from the Battery Canteen.

24th October 1918

“Shopping for the Battery is quite different from shopping at home. For 120 men it consists of (1) fifty or sixty loaves of bread (2) 14 lbs of jam (3) 7 lbs margarine (4) 14lbs cheese (5) 9 tins milk (6) 24 lbs bacon (7) 60 lbs beef (8)14lbs sugar (9) 4 lbs tea (10) rice and oatmeal (11) potatoes and onions (12) dried vegetables and tins of cooked meat and vegetables (13) bully beef and biscuits (14) salt and pepper (15) mustard (16) coal (17) candles (18) tobacco.” He thought that he might have forgotten some. “ I put my rations into separate bags, sometimes using one bag for two articles which require to be kept separate. For example I put my tea in a sandbag, tie it up and then put sugar in the top half. When I have got the Battery’s rations I also draw them for Brigade Headquarters whose strength is about 60. They require forage (hay and oats etc.) for their mules. I have only been doing this work for two or three days but shall soon get used to it. I made a few blunders such as putting packets of margarine on top in a bag containing tins of pork and beans , the result being that the margarine got badly knocked about and was mostly only fit for mashing potatoes. I also used the bottom half of a bag for sugar and the upper part for oatmeal but did not tie the string tight enough in the middle consequently some of the oatmeal got among the sugar so I expect we shall have porridge floating about on the top of the tea. Besides this I have the mail to see about – six bags full I had two days ago – registered letters, outgoing mail, returned letters and incoming mail provide quite good memory exercises. It is not at all a bad job but I shall not be able to stick to it when the Bombardier comes back from leave as he has been doing it now for about 2 1/2 years. Such things as potatoes and onions are never weighed they are simply calculated. Tea and sugar is roughly measured as well as rice and meal. On some days we get short weight owing to shortage at the Railhead whereas at other times we may get above weight. There is nothing to pay for it and a lorry to carry the stuff home. How would that suit you? Supposing you could go to Halifax in that manner. Today, after I had been round with the rations the Brigade cooks came with a pitiful tale that they had no tea and sugar or spuds. That made me sweat for a bit as I know that I had drawn them and put them on the lorry but I afterwards found that they had gone to one of the other batteries so I got them back alright. Sometimes the ration train comes early, sometimes late and I assure you it is no joke sharing them out in the dark in an open field. We are generally a day or two in hand so if it misses a day we make up the next. If the rations are poor or there is no mail you should see the long faces I have to meet when I get back. Today my meat was a whole sheep. If you just think of the food required for about a hundred men you will understand what marvellous organisation is required to feed the millions of men out here. If anything goes wrong we soon grumble but don’t often think what a tremendous job it is to ration a modern army. Let me say just a few words about ammunition. I calculate that since we came out [in Sept 1916] our battery alone has fired at least a hundred thousand rounds of shell. That means that we have used nearly five thousand tons of steel. One battery remember, out of thousands that are out here. Isn’t it marvellous where it comes from and how we get it. I won’t say any more as it may not be very interesting to you but the figures seem to me almost bewildering---“

Peter

[squirrel]

Thanks for sharing that - a useful and interesting insight.

[Penywern]

Sounds like my relative did well for himself.

Have now come across a letter sent to him by a fellow in his company whose out of the line and it mentions food.

The letter states that the food is good (where his is now) but always cooked to a 'Frazzle' and cannot wait to get back to the great meals my relative always manages to russle up.

Phillip

[per ardua per mare per terram]

plumb and apple jam

bully beef

ships biscuits - more like armour plate than cardboard!

[Chris Henschke]

The authorized daily scale of rations for British and Dominion troops varied according to the time of year, whether they were in the trenches or in Line of Communications. Certain extras were available for men of the Heavy Artillery during special operations, or men in the trenches during severe weather.

In general however, an example from mid 1917 shows;

Normal Ration.

1 lb fresh or frozen meat or ¾ lb (nominal) preserved meat.

1 lb bread or ¾ lb biscuit

4 ozs. Bacon

3 ozs. Cheese

2 ozs. dried vegetables

5/8th oz. tea

3 ozs. jam

3 ozs. sugar (2 ½ ozs. sugar when a sweetened variety of condensed milk is used).

½ oz. salt

1/50th oz mustard.

1/36th oz. pepper.

1/12 tin condensed milk

1/320th gallon lime juice, on recommendation of the Medical Officer.

2 ozs. tobacco or cigarettes per week for smokers.

1/64th gallon rum at the discretion of the General Officer Commanding, on the recommendation of the Medical Officer, may be issued concurrently with the pea soup or oxo authorized for men in the trenches.

1 box matches twice a week at the front ; once a week on L. of C.

Chris Henschke

[Joan and Terry]

Hello All

Here's a question for you all, what was the daily food ration for the troops in France, I seem to have an image of bread like cardboard and tea tasting of petrol, OK thats taking it to common belief, but what did they get.

I ask this due to the fact my G Uncle left a diary, and oddly he kept a record of extras he and mates aquired while in France as he gives the prices in Francs, which in itself I would assume is unusal. But what has surprised me is some of the items.

Regular items seem to be 'Choc, Biscuits & butter' to name a few. BUT he also lists Pineapple, Bananas, Crab & Apricots.

Interested to hear your thoughts on this....

Phillip

This site may be of some use to you.

regards

Joan

http://17thdivision.tripod.com/rationsofth...empire/id5.html

[Chris Henschke]

I suspect that the labels on that website are 'invented' for convenience. The Fray Bentos label is nowhere near what the label used during the Great War was like.

[squirrel]

I had some doubts about the accuracy of the labels as well - nowhere near "fancy" enough for the time but does give some idea of the appearance.