My Dad – RAF – told me that he only took up smoking after the war and that during the war he would give his ration away. He was in the UK and India. (I know that there was no domestic rationing of tobacco in the way of eggs, tea, and butter, for example.) Here's a Hansard question and answer: BRITISH ARMY (CIGARETTES, OVERSEAS ISSUE) HC Deb 22 March 1944 vol 398 cc865-6W 865W Mr. Lipson asked the Secretary of State for War what brands of cigarettes are now being supplied on the ration to soldiers serving overseas; and, in view of the fact that many serving men consider the Woodbine cigarettes to be little or no better than the disliked V cigarettes, will he arrange that the troops are given cigarettes of good quality only. Mr. A. Henderson: Most of the well-known brands of British cigarettes are supplied to the Army and not more than 8 per cent, of these supplies are Woodbines. I know they are smaller than most cigarettes and this does not suit everyone's taste, but an issue of Woodbines consists of more cigarettes than an issue of standard sized cigarettes. 866W Moreover, I do not accept my hon. Friend's criticism of the quality of these cigarettes, and I am advised that they are very popular among the troops. BRITISH ARMY (CIGARETTES, OVERSEAS ISSUE) (Hansard, 22 March 1944) What would Dad have meant by giving his ration away? Would it, perhaps, have meant giving something like a ticket or chit, or would it have meant physically giving away cigarettes, or something else? What sort of quantities would this have involved?
I imagine for ease he would have accepted the items then given them away might be oninterest Cigarette issue, Troops, For the use of
Letters from Anzio regarding Cigrettes (and other rations). 31st Jan 1944 Anzio Before I finish, a note to K, to thank her for the huge parcel of Churchman’s which arrived with the rest of the mail. The greatest danger I am in at the moment seems to be that of smoking myself to death! 6th March 1944 Also thank you for the usual packet of saccharine’s, worth their weight in gold. If only milk could be compressed so efficiently. For wherever you go sugar and milk are two priceless commodities. One can always scrounge the tea or coffee from somewhere but the rest is as rare as diamonds and almost as valuable. Even the Americans can’t help there. A bottle of whisky will buy almost anything from a Jeep to a 10lb tin of butter but it won’t buy milk! March 20th 1944 Anzio Never in Africa did we have so much good food, such a generous beer issue, or so many thousands of cigarettes. (Your Churchman’s continue to roll in, so that I’ve almost given up buying my NAAFI issue) Mail, food and NAAFI issues continue to play a great part in our morale. We get far more cigarettes than we can smoke and I’ve been giving mine to the gun subs for weeks. Rum is a frequent issue and I’ve no doubt is essential to the front line troops who have hardly been dry since they landed and fight from foxholes two feet deep in water often frozen over in the mornings 25th March 1944 Anzio The cigarette pilfering scandal started out here in our excellent daily paper “Union Jack” and spread to the British press. We’re living mainly on American rations which give a most astonishing variety of small delicacies all sealed up in little airtight cellophane bags. Every meal comes packed in a cardboard box for each man and opening them is like Xmas Day, for they are packed with dozens of oddments including of course chewing gum, cigarettes, and a tiny packet of soluble coffee.
Hi I served in RAF in West Berlin in the 80s and 90s and cigarette rationing was still going on even then. I read that FM Alexander visited wounded in a hospital in Athens in December 44 and handed out many hundreds of cigarettes to the troops. Gus
Gunner Ken Monk was a non-smoker but managed to accumulate cigarettes from Red Cross Parcels, placing them in a tin that he kept hidden. He and a colleague escaped from a work camp in Leipzig taking the cigarettes with them, to use as currency to bribe Germans or French POW's that they used as cover to get across Germany to the American lines. Cigarettes have been currency in both world wars and probably are today. Gunner Ken Monk can be heard along with his friend Major Tom Averill on recordings now part of the British Library Sound Recordings Project. There is a very short clip on this introduction to the project by Leicester University. Worcester Archive also hold copes of the recordings as mentioned in this video.
One thing I do remember my father saying was that he regularly swapped cigarettes for chocolate. I have one of his 'canteen cards' for the first 2 weeks of June 45 while he was at a training depot near Naples. It is clearly marked, as I would have expected, 'Not Transferable' so men must have collected their allowance in person and then consumed or disposed of as they pleased. The available items are Cigarettes, matches, chocolate, razor blades and soap and each item (on this card) has a dated stamp when I assume my father claimed the item.
Thanks for all the information everyone. From CL1's link I get the idea that troops could under normal circumstances perhaps expect to be issued with about 7 cigarettes a day and Uncle Target's post suggests that, with luck, this could be added mightily to from other sources. And thanks, hutt, for the 'canteen card'. Did it have a quantity marked on it?
This small download of a file from Australian Archives ( 2.4MB) refers to the tobacco and cigarette rations in the Middle East in 1943: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=453849&T=PDF
Very interesting stuff papiermache, thanks. Looking through the linked pdf, it seems that British troops were issued with free cigarettes but only when they were overseas. Their allowance in the Middle East was 0.286 ounces of tobacco per day or 8 grams per day. At a rate of 1 gram per cigarette, troops would get 8 per day.* Australian troops in the Pacific were given extra food to the value of the cigarettes received by British troops in the Middle East. Australians were getting 4,770 calories per day and the British 3,959. Australians had to buy their own tobacco. The cigarettes issued to British Troops cost 0.946 pence per ration. *For tailor made cigarettes, one gram (give or take a little). For smokers that roll their own, usually half a gram. This is the major reason why rolling your own saves money. Smaller smokes. Tailor made cigarettes weigh about 1.2 grams (1 gram tobacco, 0.2 grams of tube/filter). https://www.quora.com/How-much-tobacco-is-in-a-rolled-cigarette-compared-to-a-normal-cigarette
Hi Here is the example canteen card but unfortunately, no quantities given. I'll try and browse through some of my RASC diaries to see if there is any mention of the quantities allowed for each man.
Thanks hutt. Everyone back then obviously knew the ration, and I don't suppose many would imagine that a lifetime later someone might be interested.
In her latter years, my late Mum blamed her chain smoking habit on having been given unlimited free cigarettes to stay alert whilst on night radar watch in the WRAF. Yes, it was a line to challenge the Doctors to stop telling her to give up however multiple smoking related cancers did for her.
