I read many, many books on WW II. The German recruit had to sit there with a knife and peel potatoes. No potato peelers like we have in our kitchen but with a simple knife. If the skin was too thick, the recruit was wasting potatoes and would get chewed out. Kitchen duty was not an easy task. Today I learned that the US Army of WW II had machine potato peelers. Recruit placed a potato in and it whirled around inside the machine before being spit out all pealed. America! BTW, we had a machine in Chef School but I never used it. Learned this from Unfinished Journey. Pvt. Morris Redmann was a chowhound. He dashed for the chow line, be first in line, and walk out eating while he rejoined the tail end of the line for seconds.
If that's true then it's not what the historians like to report. Who hasn't seen a picture of US Navy sailors peeling spuds using knives?
In a way the potato peeling in many armies was not that bad. You worked in the kitchen, and was able to get some extra rations your other military mates were not able to get. Of course this was dependent on the relationship with the cook. Just my View.
If you've found a way to keep squids out of trouble please prepare a lecture to be presented to the Chief's Forum. Peeling potatoes was frequently used as a punishment detail. IIRC correctly Fahey mentions this in Pacific War Diary.
