Armies March On Their Stomach!

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by paulyb102, Mar 1, 2005.

  1. Niccar

    Niccar WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Hi Ron

    Reading about our American friends rations ours seemed pretty dull in comparison at least I think we got some of their soya links, and as you stated it was almost impossible getting them out of the tin it must have taken a miracle getting them in, still memories of corned beef in Africa where it was hot and you just poured it out of the can but our dogs biscuits (hard tack) if someone had invented a way of firing them from a gun I reckon they could have knocked a tank out but we are still here to tell the tale I am just going to have my supper fish and chips

    Cheers niccar
     
  2. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  3. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    Well, that's made my day. How much would they take for it, I wonder........200lbs of lard?

    H
     
  4. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    I saw it and thought of you :wub:.
     
  5. Trincomalee

    Trincomalee Senior Member

    That sounds like the rations for prisoners on the Burma railway
     
  6. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    [​IMG]
    Beltring in the background:
    Groenewoud International Trading
    (Looks like these are the chaps with that remarkable box of cooking gear H).

    Hard to find decent stuff on Gulaschkanone... Nice pictures here:
    Translated version of http://www.gulaschkanone.org/gulaschkanone.htm

    'fraid I've no recollection where I got these pictures from:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    Tommy Atkins about similar business:
    [​IMG]
    THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45 Sappers from 73rd Field Company Royal Engineers, who have been building a bridge across the Rhine, queue for food from a field kitchen, 26 March 1945.

    And a somewhat later conflict:
    [​IMG]
    THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT, APRIL - JUNE 1982 Argentine soldiers from Batallon de Infanteria Marina 5 (5 BIM) queue for a meal at a field kitchen on Mount Tumbledown. This photograph was one of many confiscated from Argentine prisoners by 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines Intelligence Section.
    From Imperial War Museum Collections Online Database

    I can feel a new interest building, there must have been thousands of these things in service in WW2 alone, all to a similar design that doesn't appear to have changed that much even today.
     
  7. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    Some very nice shots there, A. Might have to pay a visit to a certain stall at Beltring soon.

    H
     
  8. Franek

    Franek WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    I was just searching the web, and came across this article.. It is so true.
    The armies of America’s allies moved on Spam, too. Along with tanks and destroyers, the list of wartime products that America provided to Allied nations through the Lend-Lease program included Spam. On the whole, the British and Russians took more kindly to the omnipresent canned meat than GIs did. A veteran rifleman of the US 4th Infantry Division remembers how he and his mates were complaining about army food during the Normandy campaign in 1944 when two visiting Brits, without a word, lifted a slab of meat from the Americans’ mess, dropped it in the dirt, and then picked it up and swallowed it. The message was clear: You pampered Yanks have nothing to complain about; this is a treat compared to what we get.
     
  9. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    -WE in the British Tank regiments usually had the means to cook a hot meal which was sadly lacking in the American forces as they depended too much on their boxed meals. WE had a tommy gas cooker on board which helped but the main cooker was the Benghazi both cooker and Kettle whereby from the time of the Tank stopping until we had a cup of tea was usually around 90 seconds which was our squadron's record timing - the Infantry were always glad of a cuppa as well !

    Spam with a coating of flour and water paste along with a handful of mushrooms and tinned Danish bacon were a great treat in the frosty a.m.'s - even better when we could "obtain" some fresh eggs - no one said army life had to be tough !!!
    Cheers
     
  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I love the current issue MRE's....Too say I stole a few would be a undertatement :lol:
     
  11. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    I love the current issue MRE's....Too say I stole a few would be a undertatement :lol:
    If you like MRE s then you would love the current french rations. Bought a pack during the summer and was very happy with the contents. A bit like the old Compo tinned rations but far, far better. Two large tins, one of veal stew and one of a really surpirisingly nice white fish stew, more sundries than you could shake and bageutte at and a litle pot of caramel. The pack comes with teeny little hexy tablets in foil packs just like aspirins and a fold together stove stamped from sheet metal. Even comes with a little holder for the tins! Chewing gum was a bit odd - appeared to have some sort of warning on the pack about constipation but it could equally have been offering advice on cold-weather diets, my French is that good....:D
     
  12. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    US MRE's don't need a cooker to heat the meal. Just a splash of water and the Jalapeno Cheese Spread is to die for ;)


    Infact I'm off to have a look on Ebay !
     
  13. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    US MRE's don't need a cooker to heat the meal. Just a splash of water and the Jalapeno Cheese Spread is to die for ;)


    Infact I'm off to have a look on Ebay !

    Yup, the water-heating thing is a big plus but the 'candies' are truly appalling. Lot of price variation on ebay for MREs; some come with packets of fags and fetch bigger prices. Never tried smoking the MRE fags but I'm not sure I would want to after 5 years in storage!

    H
     
  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  15. Capt.Sensible

    Capt.Sensible Well-Known Member

    Never seen them with cigarettes. The ones I've used before are £10 on ebay...cheaper to eat in a restuarant when I'm away on the bike me thinks :)

    The sweets were Skittles, tootsie rolls and M&M's in the ones I borrowed :)

    US Army MRE Ration Pack 2008 Menu. Camping / Survival on eBay, also Field Gear, Surplus Equipment, Militaria, Collectables (end time 23-Dec-08 13:54:47 GMT)

    The way the pound is heading against the Euro will make hols a bit more expensive this year....shame. I have used MRE at bike rallies as you don't have to fanny about with cookers etc but given the choice of MRE or Plat de Jour I know which one I would chose!

    H
     
  16. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    We lived on soup and crumbled biscuits ALWAYS! If we brought back fresh meat, another war with the cooks threatened to break out. All the ever wanted to do was open tins of soup and break up biscuits. My mate Spud used to get very annoyed with the cooks. Even more so, when we came back from ops late, absolutely exhausted after being under fire for many hours...only to find the cooks laying in stream blind drunk.... On our Schnapps!
    Sapper
     
  17. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    I believe that Spam is making a comback due to food prices spiraling upwards.

    Tom
     
  18. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  19. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Some of the British wartime rations must have been good. My Brother left the army in 1972 and mentioned that on exercise, they occasionally ate tinned Steak & Kidney pudding still left over from the war and he said it was brilliant!!!
     
  20. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    A little off topic however, one of the great advantages the Viet Cong had was their ability to be able to survive in the jungle on rations that just consisted of a compressed ball of rice. Just a ball of rice as big as your fist and a cooking pot was all he needed.

    David,

    From what I have read, the ability to survive and fight on a compressed ball of rice was also relevent to the Japanese soldier during WW2.

    Regards
    Tom
     

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