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Old 05-20-2015, 01:25 PM
Apache6 Apache6 is offline
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Default 5th Mechanized Div rations WW III

Rations for NATO during WW III:

The purpose of this article is to examine what type of sustenance NATO soldiers ate while on the front lines in WWIII. Instead of giving a broad picture of what combat rations soldiers were supposed to be issued, this article will describe, in the words of Solders, what they actually ate to sustain themselves. To assist in further in narrowing down this topic, this article will focus on one unit during one campaign: the 5th Mechanized Division during their final offensive.

Background
When the veteran 5th Mechanized Division, which had been decimated during earlier Campaign and eventually sent back to Germany to be reformed and rebuilt. The division was rebuilt with returned wounded, recruits from the U.S. Navy, U.S.A.F. as well as Polish volunteers and small contingents of conscripts sent over from the United States. The Divisions combat units were re-equipped to some extent with rebuild combat gear and German produced civilian trucks and Battalion level field kitchen trailers. While individual soldiers were equipped with mess kits.

With the lack of study supply of MREs, one aspect of the division, like the NATO Army in general, that was modified was its ration, or food supply system. For the most part, the Division supplied its brigades with combat rations and meals reverting to the system the Germany Army used in WW II, some fifty years earlier. The food supply system consisted primarily of a battalion field mess section that prepared and cooked hot rations daily, which were then delivered to the front by various means, usually truck but sometimes by horse, bicycle, or foot.

According to orders, NATO soldiers during World War Three were to be served hot meals once a day from their battalion field kitchens. Ideally, while the troops were marching from one mission to another, the unit’s field mess personnel (which included the mess sergeant and his cook’s assistants (often non-combatant camp followers) would start the fires in the mess trailer, so hot water for tea or coffee could be served out, especially during cold weather. Normally, they would be issued their bread ration for the day (a half pound loaf of dark, multi-grain bread), and would draw cheese, jelly or preserves and perhaps hard sausage for their morning meal. The hot coals in trailer would be kept going all day to cook stew for the mid-day meal, normally the largest meal of the day. The evening meal would look much like that of the morning, using the remainder of the bread issue, with perhaps the addition of soup.

Once the rations arrived at the unit, they were quickly doled out to Soldiers detailed to go to the rear to pick them up, with the food usually being deposited into mess kits or canteen cups. Other items, such as chocolate, candy, bread, onions, coffee etc. were placed onto blankets and then rolled up for easier carrying. As one will read in this article, you will see that this system generally failed to deliver the required amount of food to the Soldiers on the front lines, with the result that many of the men went hungry for days at a time. Another factor that determined when or how late combat troops drew their rations was distance – the farther ahead a unit moved as it attacked, the farther away it got from its supply section, including the field kitchen, making the trip for the ration party carrying the food to the front all that much longer. These ration parties often arrived late, if they could find their units, and when they did, the food was often cold.

For emergency use only the units were supplied with individual combat rations. Each man in the division had one MRE issued before the start of the offensive. These were supplemented by German produced iron rations. There simply were not enough on hand to issue individual rations to the troops on a regular basis and the plan was to issuing hot rations daily with the iron rations being reserved for high tempo operations and the MRE being the last resort. As it turned out the NATO food supply system was inadequate to sustain the fighting energy of the troops during this offensive campaign.

Initially each man carried two iron rations. Also, prior to beginning a tactical march or a movement to contact, troops were issued an additional day's issue of iron rations if sufficient numbers were available. In addition to the iron ration, the units sometimes received packages of instant condensed soup and instant coffee.

The iron ration consisted of hardtack crackers and canned meat and was intended to only be consumed when rations could not be provided by the field kitchen. The standard meat portion of the iron ration came packed in a can that measured 3 inches high by 2 ⅝ inches wide. Weighing between 190 and 200 grams net, the can was normally packed with various pork or beef products, including the German version of Spam or corned beef hash. The use of horsemeat was common at the time. The cans were usually not labeled, but issued directly from a box or crate containing 72 cans, which would have had a descriptive paper label glued to the outside. The canned pork “was excellent in both appearance and flavor…packed solidly, with just enough fat to fill the spaces completely.” The canned beef, which came in a similar-sized can, was “of dubious appearance and palatability but could be improved by the addition of salt.”

The cracker portion of the iron ration offered a bit more variety, though its taste often left something to be desired. Depending upon what was available the Soldier would receive half a pound of Hardtack, crisp bread, saltine crackers or occasionally lightly sweetened crackers. The Hardtack was most common and was very hard and dense. It was made from a very low-grade flour, salt and water and had unlimited keeping qualities.” A half pound ration was made up of 6 hardtack crackers in a wax paper sleeve, they were also packed in a cardboard box containing 72 sleeves.

The following are eyewitness accounts, of what the NATO soldiers ate during this campaign:

Sgt Jonath Horst, 2nd Battalion, 52nd Armor, summarized the overall situation of the NATO’s attempts to feed its men during this campaign, including how they were able to survive the campaign, “Our food supplies were unsatisfactory. Other than captured Soviet canned goods and some preserves taken from civilian houses, there was nothing.” Bringing food forward from the Battalion Trains was dangerous because of the threat of Soviet snipers. This led the troops to simply build a fire in a stove or fire to heat their rations.

Lieutenant Stetter, 1st BN, 5th Combat Engineer Battalion, also stated the following about receiving a much-need issue of soup, ““We had our first warm food in ten days, pea soup on which the fat was swimming, for there was plenty of pork fat in the deserted houses. So we ate, no, we gobbled as much of the fatty broth as we could hold; serious digestive disturbances and stomach cramps were to follow two days later.”

WO3 Brach, 2nd BN, 3rd MP Bn (Provisional), had this to say after finally receiving his first NATO rations in days, “When we had reached the foot of the hill, there stood a soldier with a loaf of bread in his hand, cutting off slice after slice, which our men practically tore out of his hand, for we had waited six days for rations, since the supply train could not be brought closer because of enemy fire. And this slice of bread was welcome to us; we were practically starving, and this bread tasted wonderful.”

Major Jones, Cmdr, 1st BN, 9 Armor, commented on what his men were issued, “The food service rolled in the next day, and we finally got warm food again, a welcome change, for in the last few days we had nothing but stale dark rye bread and rancid butter.” He also commented on being re-supplied, with not only rations, but also some sundry items, “The goods the Sustainment Brigade brought along were then distributed to the men of my battalion, numbering 97 men at the time, included cigarettes, German beer (2 1 litter bottles per man), soap, combs, razor blades, and chocolate (one bar/man).” At one point during the campaign, Jones men had to scrounge through the bread bags of Soviet dead and wounded. At another point, specifically after overrunning a Soviet Division outside of Lorcski they had more supplies then they could carry, they halted there for two days until the other Battalions of the Brigade could send trucks to carry away the plunder. The day after they seized the Divison HQ, they feasted barbequing a cow which had been killed in the attack. Days later he remembers his gunner looking out his turret hatch, and asking a dispirited infantrymen “are you hungry?” When he said, “Yes, and how!” He threw him a loaf of thick Soviet Army rye bread.”

Sgt Horsth states that at one point his acting First Sgt advised him to go up the road to the farmhouse; and loot the equipment of the dead men in the stable there. When he came out of the stable he had found a few loafs of bread, three iron rations, plus two packages of hard candies in the packs of the dead, that was all his ten man platoon had for three days.

The one food item that seems to have sustained the 5th was captured rations. Prior to the battle, NATOs was appalled by the quality of Soviet rations. During the battle they very pleased to capture Soviet Rations, as they had nothing else. “In the village (Bettendorf) itself, we appropriated a Soviet food and clothing storehouse in a old trucking company compound. Now for a pleasant change we had enough to eat. Everybody feasted and nobody asked where our field kitchen was.” SFC Brach continued with another account of Warsaw Pact rations, “In Bettendorf the soldiers stuffed their pockets, assault packs and vehicles again with potatioes, onions and cabbage from a the farms supporting a Soviet Motor Rifle Regiments Cantonment. In fact, some of our infantry even rounded up old baby carriages and shopping carts and filled them with food. That evening, after several days, the Battalion field kitchen finally came to supply us with hot food, but nobody was hungry, thanks to the –Soviet rations. Our mess sergeant was annoyed to have to take the watery stew away again.

The NKVD seemed to be equipped with a better quality of food then the standard Soviet infantry and Pvt Friedrich, 1st BN, 9th Armor had something to say about the NKVD Rations, “I discovered a pallet of olive green boxes, about the size of a shoe box in the back of a URAL 375, and I searched them curiously. Out came small brown cartons that I had a hard time opening for they were coated with wax. They each contained a tin of sardines, a tin of peanut butter, dried nuts, cookies, tea, dried fruit bars, cigarettes, and other such things.“ Very value trade items indeed.

During the campaign, many civilians fled their homes to avoid another round of fighting in their area. These abandoned residences became the target of many a hungry soldier looking for something to eat. For several weeks the only food supplies we received came from the houses that the civilians had left, mostly it came from the gardens and orchards (mostly apple), but we found small supplies of preserves, onions, potatoes, and dried and smoked meat.

Carrrying his rations. As far as where or how the individual carried his food, per orders he carried either his one MRE or an iron ration unopened in his combat load usually in the buttpack. Other ration components were stuck in the pockets of his uniform blouse and trousers. He was limited to what he could carry, because he still had to carry his ammunition, grenades, weapon, canteen, and other field equipment, as well as an additional ammunition can or two for the squad M-60 or mortar rounds.

Conclusion
One of the myths of the NATO during the Twilight War was that were a well-equipped war machine with unending numbers of Abrams and Leopard tanks, F-15 Fighters, and legions of well equipped Rangers and Paratroops out for blood. As this short article has proven, the real story is that toward the end of the War the NATO Army could not even keep its own front line combat troops adequately fed during the campaign. As the Battle dragged on, the lack of proper nutrition, made worse by having to live out in the open during an uncharacteristically cold spring, took its physical and mental toll on the average Joe. Tired, hungry, cold, and forced to forage for his food, only a superman could have continued fighting with the same enthusiasm and effectiveness that the 5th Mechanized displayed during the offensive.

Issued Rations: Dark Rye Bread, soup/stew, margarine/butter, 4 Oz of dried meat or fish (at the most). A single MRE and two days’ worth of iron rations.

Captured Rations: Wide variety of generally low quality. Though as stated above some units happened on treasure troves of supplies.

Local Rations: Bread, potatoes, dried meat, dried apples (This source of rations appears to be the rarity rather than the norm).
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