Diet

[rv311]

I hope this is in the right section and hasn't been talked about too much already.
What was the diet of the soldiers. Did Hilter have them on anything special? What would the Germans eat and drink?

[von Voltee]

I am not sure that Hitler decreed the rationing for military personnel. To my understanding Dr. Herbert Backe was in charge of that matter - he was, after all, Reich Minister of Food and agriculture. However, there is one thing that is for certain - the rations became less and less as the war progressed - esp in the last days.

Regards,
Justin

P.S. - I am sure there is someone else here that will add much more info to this topic - I'm not really versed enough to give a great answer.

[Christoph Awender]

Hello!

The daily ration for a soldier in the field was first the so called Kaltverpflegung (cold-food) which consisted of 750g bread, 150g fat in form of butter or bread parfait, 120g sausage, cheese or fish up to 200g marmelade or artificial honey, 7 cigarettes.

The daily warm ration consisted of a mixture of potatoes, meat, salt, pepper anything available and 8g coffee or 10g coffee-substitution or tea.
Additionally chocolate, fruits, eggs as available.

The Wehrmacht had a field-kitchen at company level and so prepared (iron-rations) were just used on order when nothing else was available.
The iron-ration consisted of: 250g zwieback, 200g canned-meat, 150g canned soup, 20g coffee. Two of these full-iron-rations for each soldier were with the Kompanietroß.
Each soldier received two so called "shortened iron-rations" which consisted of 250g zwieback and 200g canned-meat. He carried these in his bread-bag.

Of course this is the theory and the units took food from the local surrounding and what they find on farms, in villages or enemy depots.

hope this helps,
Christoph

[wenty]

Thanks for that Info, Christoph. Jeez, that's actually not too bad for one soldier for 1 day. Cheers.

[rv311]

You are serious right?

[Christoph Awender]

You are serious right?

Who?

[Krasnaya Zvezda]

You are serious right?

Who?

I think he means that this is awful lot of food. Roughly I calculated about 5000 calories a day. Now, do you mean that warm ratios were given in addition to the cold - food ratios?

[Christoph Awender]

Hello!

Yes of course the warm ration was additional to the cold food. In combat often the field kitchen was not available but they tried to provide the company with warm food every evening.
Regulation was 3000-4000 calories per day.

\Christoph

[Redbaron1908]

Those are a lot of calories but I guesss yor body would need them for marching all day or doing something else.

[CHRISCHA]

I suppose their is also a rationale that feed up when you can, as during combat the next meal may be some time.

[rv311]

Yes Chris, I just couldn't believe that they ate that many calories. Thank you for the reply comrade. You even knew the cigg. count of 7...thats really cool,...

[K.Kocjancic]

German army had 4 main types of rations served to troops. The daily ration quantity (Portionsatz) is the amount of food consumed by one man for one day.

Ration I (Verpflegungssatz I) is for troops commited to combat, for those, that are recuperating from combat and units, stationed in Norway, north of 66° N.Lat. These are items in this ration:
- rye bread 700g,
- fresh meat with bones 136 g
- soy bean flour 7g,
- headless fish 30g,
- fresh vegetables and fruits 250 g,
- potatoes 320 g,
- legumes 80 g,
- pudding powder 20 g,
- sweetened condensed skim milk 25 g,
- salt 15 g,
- other seasonings 3 g,
- spices 1 g,
- fats and bread spreads 60 g,
- coffe 9g,
- sugar 40 g,
- supplementary allowances 2 g
- 7 cigarettes
- and in summer .026 quarts of wine

Ration II (Verpflegungssatz II) was for occupation and line-of-communication troops. Items in this ration were:
- rye bread 700g,
- fresh meat with bones 107 g
- soy bean flour 7g,
- headless fish 30g,
- fresh vegetables and fruits 250 g,
- potatoes 320 g,
- legumes 80 g,
- pudding powder 20 g,
- sweetened condensed skim milk 25 g,
- salt 15 g,
- other seasonings 3 g,
- spices 1 g,
- fats and bread spreads 50 g,
- coffe 9g,
- sugar 35 g,
- supplementary allowances 2 g
- 6 cigarettes
- and in summer .026 quarts of wine

Ration III (Verpflegungssatz III) was for garrison troops within Germany. Items:
- rye bread 700g,
- fresh meat with bones 90 g
- soy bean flour 7g,
- headless fish 30g,
- fresh vegetables and fruits 250 g,
- potatoes 320 g,
- legumes 80 g,
- pudding powder 20 g,
- sweetened condensed skim milk 25 g,
- salt 15 g,
- other seasonings 3 g,
- spices 1 g,
- fats and bread spreads 40 g,
- coffe 9g,
- sugar 30 g,
- supplementary allowances 2 g
- 3 cigarettes
- and in summer .026 quarts of wine

Ration IV (Verpflegungssatz IV) was for office workers and nurses within Germany. Items:
- rye bread 600g,
- fresh meat with bones 56 g
- soy bean flour 7g,
- headless fish 30g,
- fresh vegetables and fruits 250 g,
- potatoes 320 g,
- legumes 80 g,
- pudding powder 20 g,
- sweetened condensed skim milk 25 g,
- salt 15 g,
- other seasonings 3 g,
- spices 1 g,
- fats and bread spreads 35 g,
- coffe 9g,
- sugar 30 g,
- supplementary allowances 2 g
- 2 cigarettes
- and in summer .026 quarts of wine

They also had special types of rations:
1.) MARCH RATION (Marschverpflegung): is a cold food ration, issued for not more than 3 or 4 consecutive days to unit in transit either on carrier or by food. Items:
- 700 g of bread,
- 200 g of cold meat or cheese,
- 60 g of bread spreads,
- 9 g of coffe (or 4 g of tea),
- 10 g of sugar and
- 6 cigarettes.

2.) IRON RATION (Eiserne Portion). Items:
- 250 g of biscuits,
- 200 g of cold meat,
- 150 g of preserved vegatables,
- 25 g of coffee and
- 25 g of salt.

3.) IRON HALF-RATION (Eiserne Halb-Portion): Items:
- 250 g of biscuits and
- 200 g of preserved meat.

4.) COMBAT PACKAGE (Grosskampfpäcken) and CLOSE COMBAT PACKAGE (Nahkampfpäcken), for troops engaged in combat. Items:
- chocolate bars,
- fruit bars,
- candies,
- cigaretts and
- biscuits.

Regards,
Kocjo

[Krasnaya Zvezda]

German army had 4 main types of rations served to troops. The daily ration quantity (Portionsatz) is the amount of food consumed by one man for one day.

Ration I (Verpflegungssatz I) is for troops commited to combat, for those, that are recuperating from combat and units, stationed in Norway, north of 66° N.Lat. These are items in this ration:
- rye bread 700g,
- fresh meat with bones 136 g
- soy bean flour 7g,
- headless fish 30g,
- fresh vegetables and fruits 250 g,
- potatoes 320 g,
- legumes 80 g,
- pudding powder 20 g,
- sweetened condensed skim milk 25 g,
- salt 15 g,
- other seasonings 3 g,
- spices 1 g,
- fats and bread spreads 60 g,
- coffe 9g,
- sugar 40 g,
- supplementary allowances 2 g
- 7 cigarettes
- and in summer .026 quarts of wine

Ration II (Verpflegungssatz II) was for occupation and line-of-communication troops. Items in this ration were:
- rye bread 700g,
- fresh meat with bones 107 g
- soy bean flour 7g,
- headless fish 30g,
- fresh vegetables and fruits 250 g,
- potatoes 320 g,
- legumes 80 g,
- pudding powder 20 g,
- sweetened condensed skim milk 25 g,
- salt 15 g,
- other seasonings 3 g,
- spices 1 g,
- fats and bread spreads 50 g,
- coffe 9g,
- sugar 35 g,
- supplementary allowances 2 g
- 6 cigarettes
- and in summer .026 quarts of wine

Ration III (Verpflegungssatz III) was for garrison troops within Germany. Items:
- rye bread 700g,
- fresh meat with bones 90 g
- soy bean flour 7g,
- headless fish 30g,
- fresh vegetables and fruits 250 g,
- potatoes 320 g,
- legumes 80 g,
- pudding powder 20 g,
- sweetened condensed skim milk 25 g,
- salt 15 g,
- other seasonings 3 g,
- spices 1 g,
- fats and bread spreads 40 g,
- coffe 9g,
- sugar 30 g,
- supplementary allowances 2 g
- 3 cigarettes
- and in summer .026 quarts of wine

Ration IV (Verpflegungssatz IV) was for office workers and nurses within Germany. Items:
- rye bread 600g,
- fresh meat with bones 56 g
- soy bean flour 7g,
- headless fish 30g,
- fresh vegetables and fruits 250 g,
- potatoes 320 g,
- legumes 80 g,
- pudding powder 20 g,
- sweetened condensed skim milk 25 g,
- salt 15 g,
- other seasonings 3 g,
- spices 1 g,
- fats and bread spreads 35 g,
- coffe 9g,
- sugar 30 g,
- supplementary allowances 2 g
- 2 cigarettes
- and in summer .026 quarts of wine

They also had special types of rations:
1.) MARCH RATION (Marschverpflegung): is a cold food ration, issued for not more than 3 or 4 consecutive days to unit in transit either on carrier or by food. Items:
- 700 g of bread,
- 200 g of cold meat or cheese,
- 60 g of bread spreads,
- 9 g of coffe (or 4 g of tea),
- 10 g of sugar and
- 6 cigarettes.

2.) IRON RATION (Eiserne Portion). Items:
- 250 g of biscuits,
- 200 g of cold meat,
- 150 g of preserved vegatables,
- 25 g of coffee and
- 25 g of salt.

3.) IRON HALF-RATION (Eiserne Halb-Portion): Items:
- 250 g of biscuits and
- 200 g of preserved meat.

4.) COMBAT PACKAGE (Grosskampfpäcken) and CLOSE COMBAT PACKAGE (Nahkampfpäcken), for troops engaged in combat. Items:
- chocolate bars,
- fruit bars,
- candies,
- cigaretts and
- biscuits.

Regards,
Kocjo

Excellent post as always Kocjo!! Thanks a lot.

[K.Kocjancic]

Here are some other data on food in German army:
1.) A butchery platoon can process:
- 40 beef cattle into 40.000 meal rations per day,
- 80 pigs into 24.000 meal rations per day,
- 240 sheep into 19.000 meal rations per day.

2.) A field bakery company could produce 15.000 to 19.200 bread rations per day.

3.) German soldier was allowed 60 g of dried vegetables / 1200 g of kidney beans / 400 g of salted vegetables / or equivalent quantities of any of about 30 other substitutes per day.

4.) ANIMAL RATIONS (I know, that you were asking for human rations, but we can not forget the animals).
Horses were the most common kind of animal in German army. They were divided into 4 groups:
- draft horses of the heaviest breed,
- draft horses of heavy breed,
- saddle horses and light draft horses and
- small horses
The first group received per day:
- 5650 g of oats,
- 5300 g of hay,
- 4250 g of straw and
- 1500 g of bedding straw.
Other groups received less.


5.) RESERVE RATIONS
Every german army (Armee) had to have some reserve rations for its men for case of being cut off from supplies. Per men and per day each Armee had:
- 1 Eiserne Halb-Portion (with the men),
- 2 Eiserne Portion (one by combat vehicle and one by field kitchen),
- 7 Full rasions (one in field kitchen, 2 in unit ration train, 1 in divisional train and 3 by army dumps).

Regards,
Kocjo

[trower]

Obviously rations in battle must have been different when supply lines were affected. Can anyone tell me if there was any logic to the food rations and rationing at Stalingrad. I know they were meager, i'm curious to know if there was any method of distributing the rations equitably.

Cheers
Sea