1943 British Army Rations

[spider]

This is interesting; more scientific approach to rations than I imagined;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YD2qq3vsng

[na grohmiti]

That guy has a very interesting channel. Lots of irish stuff too.

[spider]

That guy has a very interesting channel. Lots of irish stuff too.

His instagram is good too riflemanmoore

[GoneToTheCanner]

the British Government and the Military establishment understood that poorly fed soldiers and civilians were of no use to anyone, least of all themselves,so they undertook to improve rations, housing, food in general, clothing, medical care and so on and for many men and women, joining up was their first and best opportunity to get three square meals a day, guaranteed clothing,personal welfare such as nutritious food, clean living conditions, medical care, access to sport and fitness training, vocational training that was more than just handling a gun and importantly, comradeship and a sense of belonging and contributing to a shared sense of the greater good. WW 2 changed the UK in a myriad of ways for the ordinary man and woman and was regarded by many of them as the greatest part of their lives. It changed their social outlook utterly,

[na grohmiti]

Interesting to compare the relative size of the WW1 soldier to the WW2 equivalent. Interesting to see in WW1 how many of those from "Pals" units won medals for feats of strength, such as moving lines of barbed wire, manhandling machine gun nests or rescuing comrades from enemy fire. These guys had come from the farms and mines of the empire, and had huge physical advantages compared to their career soldier who lived on army rations in poor "camp" conditions around the empire since their mid teens. The inter-war years reversed the trend though, as many who struggled to survive in the civvy world of the harsh 1920s and 30s, found the improved "New Army" conditions better for their health than the tenements of working class inter-war Britain.

[GoneToTheCanner]

the British were forced to establish feeding camps to bring undernourished recruits up to strength because they found that the live product of the slums and mass housing were too light and frail to lift a man's march pack. It's legacy was my apprentice intake in 1984 in the AC having a milk ration for 16.5 yr old apprentices. We copied the British system so closely that that was still in force. In 1984.

[spider]

I've just finished a trilogy of books written by a guy called John Horsfall.

They're about 1st Bn The Royal Irish Fusiliers in WW2 -

'Say Not the Struggle' - Dunkirk

'The Wild Geese are Flighting' - Tunisia

'Fling Our Banner to the Wind' - Italy

Its interesting because in these books he talks frequently about bringing the cooks forward, and feeding the blokes in the field, often after they had consolidated onto objectives.

Several times he mentions the fact that when they were fighting, they rarely took time to eat, often for several days.

A lot of what the cooks fed them with was purchased locally, or they ate rations the Germans had abandoned.

In Tunisia all of the G4 train was carried by mule.

Soldiers today could be on ORP's for weeks if not months in some situations.

Horsfall's books are good if you can get them, I bought three first editions all signed by the author.

He was a Company Commander in 1 R Ir Fus before going on to command the London Irish Rifles.