Ersatz varied, this was made from Blackberry leaves and acorns. By 1944 food was very short in Germany. Hence the Red Cross parcels were luxury. This story occurred just before Christmas 1944. The area around the small work camp was bombed by the RAF several times as its location was unknown to the RAF.
Can anyone identify "The News and Times" the story teller reputedly carried a cutting of the whole story, including his escape, in his pocket but no one I have contact with knows of this publication.
For interest, here are images of some of the cards placed in parcels by sponsor organizations: together with a list of articles not to be sent in NOK parcels: some of which will have been applied to forestall undesired enemy exploitation, for example special forces capbadges and photographs. As a sequitur to the latter, I knew one former PW who regularly asked for a photo of his mother and dog, knowing full well that one would not be sent, but it meant that she should send something else instead .... often secreted in a chocolate item. The associated PW sketches, penned on flimsy postcards home, may be of interest too:
Whilst commonly referred to as Red Cross parcels, it should not be forgotten that the British variants were a joint enterprise with the St John organization, as were the Indian and New Zealand ones. I recently came across the site of a small independent museum in Northern Ireland, noted for a future visit; the link below may be of interest here: World War 2 - Inver Museum I, for one, hadn’t really appreciated quite how much a parcel cost to put together and how some were funded by penny savings. A penny a day ought fund three over a year. Evidence of paper economies also in package labelling, too.