It was interesting to say the least about the food that had to be eaten. There were Rations that were given to the soldiers. I found a great site that has pictures of the items. Here it is where it is located. It goes into detail about each food item. Ration Packs from WW2
Talking of Food, here is what Brian Guy mentions.. Food. Is that what they call it? During the early days of the invasion there was a period when getting supplies to the troops would be difficult, to that end we had been issued with little blocks of dehydrated meat and tea, one was supposed to take these hard little blocks and put them in your billy can and boil them over a little wire stove that was heated by a solidified, white, rectangular block of methylated spirits that we carried with us. Imagine, if you can, you are a young and innocent countryman. Before the war you had never left your village. You have landed moved inland and have dug your fox hole to get some protection from the enemy fire, you are just nineteen, and hungry. Having got below ground, while above you the war is still in full swing, you now turn your attentions to food. Sitting in the bottom of your foxhole you get out your little wire stove and assemble it, get out the block of solid meths, ready to put in the burner tray, next, you find the rectangular block of dehydrated meat, funny looking speckled stuff, and as hard as a rock! Taking this rock hard little brown block, you put it in your Billy can and cover it with water, then you light the little block of fuel, difficult, as the breeze makes it flicker. Now you place the Billy can over this flickering little flame in the vain hope that somehow or other it will heat your food. After some time desperately watching this flickering flame trying to cook your meal. You look at this ‘just warm’ brown mess and decide that it was a warm as it was going to get. The appearance was horrible, with much of it still in lumps and a film of grease floating on the top. Mixing it up with my spoon, (I had already lost my knife and fork and the other part of my Billy can through enemy action) This hungry young lad ate this disgusting mess. If it looked horrible, then it tasted even worse! that is all we had, that, or nothing, so we ate it! To satisfy our thirst, we then had a magical little brown and white speckled cube that was reputed to be tea. We put this brown and white speckled cube into some more water in our Billy can, with the grease from the meat still there, not much water in my water bottle! (the cube? dehydrated tea, milk and sugar, I think!) and then tried to boil it up. Again watching the little tiny flame trying against impossible odds to heat the water, let me tell you it was the most disgusting Billy can of just warm tea I have ever had in my life. Swimming with grease on the surface. With the unheated bits like grit on your tongue. YUK! The after effects were even worse, if one had not fully reconstituted the meat, it then continued to expand in your stomach with dire results! it caused the most terrible cases of constipation. Constipation so severe that it made your eyes bulge, and your ears ring. I make no apology for this, one thing I can say, when At last! At last! the time came to "go" Nothing was going to stop you, Germans, shellfire, mortars, machine gun fire, nothing! ‘Salvation’ from this constipation came in a lovely field of green French cabbages on a North facing hill, exposed to the whole of the Allied invasion fleet. It did not matter if the whole bloody German army came thundering down over the horizon with SS Leib Standarten Adolph Hitler’s personal armoured guard Panzer Division in the lead! When we had control of the coast we were then supplied with the 14-man pack. This was a wooden box that kept 14 men for 24 hours. "Compo rations" No bread, only biscuits. This box contained items like cigarettes, boiled sweets, toilet paper, and all the tins of food that would keep 14 men for one day, one thing we noticed about the tinned food, one never had the energy that young men ought to have had, too much tinned food, no fresh food, and we did feel the difference. The boiled sweets? Well, most of us kept some back to give to the French children on the rare occasions when we met them. Everyone smoked and some that were heavy smokers were at times short of a fag. We got fed up with the same old tinned food, it seemed our cooks were not very well disposed to serve up any fresh food, if it could be obtained, they were quite happy to open cans and that is all! Any one for tea? Brian
That's an interesting picture. I guess that Weet Bix was a forerunner to Weetabix that I remember as a cereal being sold in Canada in later decades? I've heard of people spreading bacon grease on bread, which I'm sure my doctor wouldn't advise. I see where it could be necessary to stretch the food supply. I wonder if that taste was acquired before the scarcity of some foods during the rationing of wars?
Hehe I have to agree with Dave! What a fun read that was for me this morning. Brian sure has a delightful way with words and I plan to look around for more of his writings. It brings events to life.
