WWII Rations and Mess Kits

what is that they are carrying

 

German Kegger!!!!! LOL

 

In front of a Half-track vehicle m3 of the 41st Armored Inf. Regt of 2nd US AD, three men prepare to eat. From left to right: S/Sgt, T/5 (of which l' badge of handle is censured) and Pvt. Behind, posed on the nose gear wheel a SMG cal.45 Thompson, on the right with water jerrycan. Preparation of the meal to the d' means; a stove with gasoline on which heating a large mess tin of aluminium canteen. S/Sgt opens a can, T/5 cuts chive, while Pvt s' occupy of cooking. Us n' could determine the model of the stove with gasoline (pressurization of the tank and lighting of the vapors d' gasoline)

p013308.jpg on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Cigarettes and alcohol. Two things much sought after during the war.

 

Hmm, alcohol, tobacco and firearms. . . Where have I heard of that combination before?

Anecdotally I know that the US provided cigarettes with rations during WWII and that the Royal Navy has had a rum ration for a long time. Any good info on what sorts of tobacco and alcohol rations various services amongst the participant nations of WWII provided their troops?

 

I did mention in some of my previous posts the various Tobacco amd Alcohol rations of some countries .

 

My favorite so far

 

Hey Doc. I forgot to mention this is a Wehrmacht Issue of beer being distributed. Lowenbrau if I remember correctly .

 

I did find another mention of a "Beer ration". I have also read somewhere of using aircraft to chill and make items cold. I seem to remember a P-38 being used to do that.


"In the April 2007 issue, Ambrose reminds his comrades about the importance they placed on getting their monthly beer ration cold. As the squad photographer and thus part of the government’s war publicity machine that fed the American media, Ambrose said he could often requisition a plane on the pretext that certain photos had to be taken. An “official photo mission,” it was called."

WWII memories, photos shared around the world

 

"The Crash of Ruin" by Peter Schrijvers has some insight into some of the alcohol rations of some of the Allies of the US and the soldiers use of alcohol.

The Crash of Ruin: American Combat ... - Google Book Search

 

Hey JC, thanks for all of the info. I went back and looked at some of your other references as well. That looks like a happy group of guys with that barrel of Lowenbrau!

Your reference to the bomber squads chilling their beer made me think of a story my dad told me. I think he was probably stateside at the time but don't know for sure. Anyway, his battery had procured some beer during warm weather. I'm thinking it was bottled but not sure. They weren't too thrilled about drinking it warm, so one of the guys had some refrigeration background and rigged a cooler using gasoline and an air compressor. Apparently that did the trick and the lingering gasoline odor wasn't much of a deterrent to anybody!

 

You are most welcome. Its nice to see some here appreciate my postings . Thanks for the story and imput. I seem to remeber that some B-17 crews chilled items by taking them up on a flight too.

Hers a good warning for those drunk drivers LOL.




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Yeah the "boys" overseas were pretty resourceful when it came to chilling down a brew, and it was most likely in a can.

The beer your Father was talking about was without doubt canned, not bottled. Bottled beer was not shipped overseas due to breakage loss, while cans were not available on the US "homefront" due to rationing of metals. As in; "The entire beer can movement was completely derailed by World War II. Metal was directed towards the war effort forcing brewers to package their beer almost entirely in bottles. The exception to this was beer packaged especially for the overseas troops. These beer cans were specially labelled "Withdrawn Free for Export". The word "free" refers to being free from federal taxes. Prior to 1948, all bottled and canned beer had to be clearly labelled "Internal Revenue Tax Paid". A quick glance at all beer cans and bottle labels of this era will reveal this mandated phrase. The insignia provides collectors with a valuable tool in which to date old beer cans."

From:

beercans.org - Beer Can History

These "war OD Green" cans in both flattop and cone tops. Even the can’s tops and bottoms were painted this color to avoid reflecting light at night and possibly giving an easy target for the enemy. Cone top cans open like bottles, while flattops need to have a "church key" or something similar for opening.

Another poster who used to frequent another forum (which shall remain nameless), but who has since passed on told stories of taking beer up over 15,000 feet in the Navy cargo planes to chill it down. His username was "norge", but real name Harry A. (Andersen ?), and another fella from the same forum by the name of "BobH"; real name Bob Harris told similar tales. Both were in the USN in WW2, although (I believe) stationed in different theaters. Bob Harris also told of using that "high altitude" trick to set Jello.

 

Hey Clint and Doc remember the movie about a sunken cargo ship full of beer in the Pacific with Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller?? LOL "The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell ".

The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Thanks for the info and link, Clint. Didn't know about the export/domestic split with cans and bottles during the war.

The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell sounds vaguely familiar, but I'm not sure I've ever seen it.

 

Typical Hope movie. Entertaining. If you get a chance you should watch it . I think it portrays the military man's attitude towards the Beer ration very well .

 

Here ya go Doc. A soldiers Heaven!!