Scan record
Title: The Soldiers Food
Authors: Maj. F A Caunt & Capt C J A Jones
Publisher: ACC
Date of publication: 1978
Source of original: RLC Museum
Shelf no. : n/a
RLCArchive ref: R0325
Date of scan: 26th February 2015
The Soldiers Food
"roc^s
THE SOLDIERS'FOOD
Compiled and w r i t t e n hy Major F A CAUBT MC ACC and
Captain C J A JOHES ACC, who wish t o acknowledge
the help given hy the L i b r a r i a n , P r i n c e C o n s o r t ' s
Library, Aldershot.
The Soldier's Food
Introduction
The history of feeding in the British Army is a complex subject. Little
has been written about i t , probably because i t savours of trade and as
such has no place among the records of military heroics on which
historians, not unnaturally, have always preferred to dwell. The
intensity of modern war and the introduction of the welfare state
are responsible for the high standard of troops feeding which exists
nowadays. In the past i t was the exception rather than the rule for.
troops to feed well. The quantity and the quality of t h e i r food were
determined by 3 factors. F i r s t l y , what would cost the tax payer least
money. Secondly, what could the contractors provide with the money
available after they had made their profits and thirdly what would
the long suffering soldier accept without serious complaint.
Napoleon Bonaparte, perhaps the greatest military commander the world
has known, observed that "armies march on their stomach". This maxim
i s more true of the British Soldier than any other in the world; not
only his physical condition but his morale depends on a regular supply
of good wholesome food. The Spanish Soldier, due to his austere and
rugged environment can march for days on nothing more than a root of
garlic and a crust of dry bread. The Russian infantry man will live
for a week on a lump of oil cake. Those who have served in the Par
East will know that the Chinese and Japanese can do the same on a
handful of r i c e . Even the French will live and fight uncomplainingly
on the most meagre of rations. The British Soldier will bear the
hardship of climate, unsuitable clothing, inadequate equipment and a l l
the rigours of service life with courage, fortitude and even cheerfulness but deprive him of his rights where his rations are concerned and
he soon becomes disgruntled and troublesome.
Considering this i t i s rather surprising to find that throughout the
l a s t 4 centuries, during which time British arms have only once been
defeated in major war, that the attitude of the authorities toward
the soldier's food has been one of indifference and apathy. As a
result of public indignation at the poor administration in the Crimean
Campaign some improvements were made in troops feeding but i t was not
u n t i l 1937 when Mr Hore Belisha became Secretary of State for War that
any really noticeable improvements were made.
In the following chapters i t is proposed to examine the history of
feeding in the Standing Army since i t s origin and comment on feeding
in other Armies.
Chapter 1
Even in the most remote periods of history States had assumed responsib i l i t y for the feeding of their armies although i t was not until
comparatively recent times that the distribution of food was carried
out to a system. The establishment of a fixed daily allowance of
provisions probably originated in the armies of the Roman Empire.
Grain, at f i r s t , was the only issue made to the Roman Soldier; the
ration being 12 pounds of wheat every 15 days. This wheat was ground
into flour by a handmill which formed part of every soldiers equipment.
The flour in turn was worked into a paste called puis and no attempt
was made to bake bread in the field.
The Roman Soldier like a l l soldiers before and after him craved for fresh
bread and often used to sell his grain for a fraction of its' value in
order to satisfy this craving. As the use of bread became more general
bakeries for troops were established throughout the Empire although i t
was not until the days of Julius Caesar that field ovens were introduced
and bread and biscuit became a regular feature of the Legionarie's d i e t .
For a long time bread and biscuit were the only rations for which the
State held i t s e l f responsible. All other food had t o be purchased by
the soldier himself from the sutlers who followed the legions. As the
standard of living among a l l classes of the Roman population increased,
t h i s frugal diet ceased to satisfy the soldier's wants. The ration was
gradually increased u n t i l under the Emperor Constantious i t consisted
of bread and biscuit, fresh meat and bacon, wine and vinegar.
I t can he readily seen that those increases in the ration put a great
s t r a i n on the administration. Instead of every man carrying in his kit
a supply of food for 15 days he now depended on the commissariat trains
to provide for his ever increasing wants. The decay in military
discipline, which ultimately contributed to the downfall of the Roman
Empire, can be partly attributed t o t h i s departure from the more Spartanlike eating habits of the invincible legionaries of Caesar and Pompey.
I t i s difficult to establish when i t became a practice in the English Army
to issue a fried scale of rations to the soldier. There would appear to be
l i t t l e doubt that prior to 1590, in the region of the "Virgin Queen"
Elizabeth, the soldier was not issued with rations. He had to buy his
food out of his meagre pay. The main disadvantage of this sytem was the
s o l d i e r ' s reluctance to spend his hard earned money on food when i t could
as easily be spent on a l e . Shakespeare's contempt for the drinking habits
of the English soldier of his time is i l l u s t r a t e d in this passage from
Henvy VI Act 1:
"Their troops (the English) want their porridge, and their fat hull
beeves; Either they must be deiled like mules and have t h e i r
provender tied to t h e i r mouths, or piteous they will look like
drowned mice".
Such was the physical condition of the average soldier at the end of the
16th century that the physicians persua'ded the authorities to introduce
a system of ration issues. The idea was good but the method by which i t
was implemented doomed i t from the s t a r t . Ifeat and bread were purchased,
usually from the commissariat, by the company officers .and distributed to
the troops. The officers reimbursed themselves by making compulsory
stoppages from t h e i r soldiers' pay. In theory the system was sound but
in practice i t was open to abuse as t h i s extract from a contemporary
writing shows: (Apologies are made for 16th Century grammar Ed.)
"The summber-before the Earl of Leicester went over our men of war
heard that had divers years before in those parts a new invention never
heard or read of before amongst men of war, but only upon some great
backs and extremities and that was that t h e i r soldiers instead of pay
with money should be paid in provand, which was bread and cheese, and
other such victuals of the best cheap and basest sort, and that taxed
by measure, saying that i t was not convenient that t h e i r soldiers should
received their own pays because they knew not how to lay out t h e i r money,
but that they would spend in idly; which simplicity and ignorance i f i t
had been in them (as i t was not) they and t h e i r Officers by good
instruction should have reformed the same. But such covetous men of
war, under t h i s pretence (as though t h e i r soldiers were either natural
fools or children) did contrary to a l l military order, put the greatest
part .of their soldiers pay in theor own purses showing them great
scarcity of provand."
Robbing their troops in. t h i s manner was a recognised source of income to
the Regimental Officer. I t i s fairly certain that the stoppages made
from the soldier's pay were, always in excess of the value of the rations
provided. This state of affairs did not last very long. After a mutiny
among the Earl of Leicester's troops in Holland the system was dropped
and not re-introduced u n t i l the formation of the Standing Army some
70 years l a t e r .
The British Standing Army dates from the Restoration to the throne of the
Stuart King Charles I I , son of the beheaded Charles I . I t s existance was
not recognised by the law of the land u n t i l 29 years l a t e r . Armies had
never been popular with Parliament because of the expense of maintaining
them and because of the potential threat they constituted to authority.
The pleasure loving, but nevertheless popular Charles I I , formed a small
force to act as his guard and to garrison certain towns. This force was
enlarged by his brother James I I and when the Dutch William and Mary came
2
to the throne i t consisted of the foot and horse guards, 11 regiments of
cavalry and 20 of foot. I t was further enlarged in 1689 when news was
received that the deposed James I I had landed in long suffering Ireland
at the head of a French Army. In the same week 2 regiments under orders
for active service in Flanders mutinied. These 2 events made Parliament
forget the Declaration of Rights in which i t had expressed i t s aversion
to a permanent army and spurred i t on to pass the Mutiny B i l l . This
Bill was the forerunner of the Army Act. I t legalised the maintenance
of a Standing Army and made desertion, mutiny and certain other crimes
punishable by death; crimes which previously had not been legally
punishable. With few intermissions this Bill has been renewed annually
ever since.
I t was also in this year, 1689] that the f i r s t warrant concerning troop's
messing was published. This warrant legalised a system that had been in
operation since 1660. The Commissary General was authorised to issue
rations, on repayment, to the Army. Each soldier was e n t i t l e d to -3- of a
pound of bread and the same weight of meat daily. For this fourpence
daily was deducted from his pay. I t i s of interest to.note that the
Roman Custom of Officers drawing rations according to t h e i r ranks was
practised in the English Army. An Ensign drew 4 rations, a Colonel drew
12 and a Lieutenant General drew 50 (this must have been in lieu of
entertainment allowance).
There were no army barracks. At home the soldier was b i l l e t e d on innkeepers who received either the soldier's ration or his fourpence and
with that had to feed him. The b i l l e t i n g of troops in this fashion was
most unpopular with landlords who insisted that the fourpence was hopel e s s l y inadequate. Unpopular as the system was with the landlord the
active service system was even more unpopular with the soldier. The
Army in Ireland at the time was on the point of mutiny. A minute
circulating the War Office complained b i t t e r l y of starvation among the
troops, who, it was alleged were cheated out of t h e i r pay and refused
food.
Colonel Purcell of the 23rd of Foot (The Royal Welsh Fusiliers) wrote
to the C-in-C of the Army in Ireland warning him that his men were in a
dangerous state.and plundering the surrounding country—side. I t was.
alleged that his regiment
had been over-paid and a l l issues of food
stopped u n t i l the' r over plus" be repaid. Five years l a t e r the Royal Welsh
Fusiliers won t h e i r f i r s t "battle—honour at the Battle of Hamur.
There was one garrison that seemed to be doing very well for i t s e l f that of the English troops stationed in the town of Tangier. A report
on the garrison said:
"The private soldiers live there better than in any part of the world for
they have fresh and wholesome quarters with small gardens; coals for
dressing the provisions they have out of the store at the King's charges;
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every Monday morning each man receives a piece of "beef, one of pork,
7 pounds of "bread, a quart of peas, a pint of oatmeal "besides "butter
and cheese for his week's allowance.".
The 17th century had not proved very peaceful for the inhabitants of
the British Isles. It had "brought invasion, civil war and revolution
together with the human tragedy and "bloodshed which inevitably accompany
them. Die 18th century was to prove equally turbulent. It was to see
Britain become deeply involved in numerous campaigns and no less than
4 major wars. The first of these was fought under the Generalship of
Sir Winston CHURCHILL'S famous ancester, John CHURCHILL, Duke of
Marlborough. In this war the British together with their Bavarian Allies
defeated the French 4 times in 6 years at the Battles of Blenheim,
Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet.
It was during Marlborough's campaigns that a lady called Mrs Christian
ROSS became renowned throughout the British Army. She was an Irish
woman whose sweetheart got very drunk one day; when he sobered up he
found that he had been press—ganged into the Army and posted to Flanders
as a private of infantry. Determined to find him and join him she
enlisted in the Scots Greys who were under orders for Flanders. She
fought in several actions there and was actually wounded twice before
her sex was discovered. By this time she had found and married her
sweetheart and in order to stay with him had become a sutleress. (The
sutlers performed a similar function in those days to that of UAAFI today).
Her happiness was short lived because after the battle of Malplaquet she
found her husband's mutilated body among a heap of dead.
After her husband's death she devoted herself wholeheartedly to her new
profession. It would appear she catered as much for officers as for other
ranks and after a long march would have a dinner prepared for the general
and his.staff. By her own admission she was a shameless thief of pigs,
poultry and anything she could lay her hands on; as such she constantly
risked the gallows because Marlborough was ruthless with plunderers. She
was a regular amazon who had an awe—inspiring command of language,
especially the sort soldiers best understand and even did her own "chucking
out". Kit ROSS, as she was usually called was almost as well known in the
Army as Marlborough himself.
When she died she was buried with military honours in the churchyard of
St Margaret's, Westminster.
4
Chapter 2
During the 18th century w h i l s t England was organising i t s Army on a
r e g u l a r b a s i s i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t o note t h a t Louis XIV on the o t h e r side
of the English Channel with h i s War M i n i s t e r , Louvois, was r e o r g a n i s i n g
the French Army. Louvois was very i n t e r e s t e d i n troops f e e d i n g . He
conceived the idea of i m i t a t i n g t h e use made of t a s a j o , pemican and carne
secca i n other countries and making from t h i s compound a r a t i o n t h a t would
be l i g h t t o c a r r y and economical i n space. The r e s u l t was an i n t e r e s t i n g
experiment- i n dehydration. Louvois ordered the c o n s t r u c t i o n of large
copper ovens, each one capable of h o l d i n g the meat of 8 oxen. These ovens
were intended t o dry t h e f l e s h by r e p l a c i n g the h e a t of the suns rays i n
t r o p i c a l c l i m a t e s . The meat d r i e d by t h i s process was found t o be well
adapted for u s e . One pound of f r e s h meat y i e l d e d one ounce of d r i e d
s t u f f , and one ounce of t h i s b o i l e d i n water i t i s s a i d , (though we
very much doubt i t ) , to have s u f f i c e d t o nourish 8 men.
To r e t u r n t o the B r i t i s h Army and t h e 7 year war from 1753 t o 1760.
During t h i s war and t h e wars of the 18th Century, regimental arrangements
f o r t r o o p s feeding continued t o be employed t o a g r e a t e x t e n t , even i n
the f i e l d . The Commissariat a c t e d as wholesalers t o Commanding O f f i c e r s ,
who r e t a i l e d t h e i r purchases t o t h e i r men. The one item which appears
always t o have been a commissariat supply, was b r e a d . At t h i s time the
c o n t r a c t f o r t h e supply of b r e a d was, and continued t o be a most v a l u a b l e
one. The young Duke of Marlborough w r i t i n g i n 1758 i n d i c a t e s the e v i l s
r e s u l t i n g from the " g e t r i c h q u i c k l y " methods of the C o n t r a c t o r s .
"Seventy bread wagons are a b s o l u t e l y n e c e s s a r y even f o r one
d e l i v e r y of bread t o t h e Army. I hope the b r e a d w i l l be of
wheat, or h a l f our men w i l l die of f l u x e s ( c a l l e d dysentery
today, E d ) . On the march l|f l b a day i s the constant allowance".
Lord Ligoniere was consulted by t h e Treasury on the s u b j e c t of bread a l s o
i n 1758 and he s a i d : " I b e l i e v e more men are l o s t by e a t i n g Rye bread than
by t h e sword of the enemy and t h e r e f o r e I recommend t o t h e i r Lordships
t h a t t h e Troops should be f e d with b r e a d made of wheat o n l y " . Considering
t h e small amount of money involved between rye and wheat b r e a d i t ' s
n i g g a r d l i n e s s seems r a t h e r a p p a l l i n g when considered i n terms of human
l i v e s , but t h e n , the s o l d i e r of t h a t day was, i n the eyes of s o c i e t y ,
h a r d l y human.
The use of b i s c u i t a t t h i s time does not appear t o be so general i n t h e
f i e l d as i t i s now. I t was s a i d by t h e M i l i t a r y Experts of the day t h a t
you should ba&e bread as often as you h a l t . On every e x p e d i t i o n you
should be provided with b r e a d or b i s c u i t for 10 days. They a l s o s a i d
t h a t b i s c u i t i s an e x c e l l e n t t h i n g , b u t our s o l d i e r s do not l i k e i t i n
5
t h e i r "broth and are i n general unacquainted with the use of i t .
In t h i s r e s p e c t the d i s l i k e s of the. B r i t i s h S o l d i e r remain unchanged even
a f t e r a lapse of 2 c e n t u r i e s .
I t was during t h i s war t h a t our a l l y , Frederick the Great of P r u s s i a ,
gave the world a l e s s o n i n the a r t of feeding armies in the f i e l d .
Like
t h e Romans, he i s s u e d h i s t r o o p s with hand m i l l s , i n s i s t e d t h a t whatever
t h e circumstances the P r u s s i a n s o l d i e r received 2 l b of bread a day and
2 l b of meat a week and ensured t h a t h i s army always had 10 days reserve
of b r e a d and b i s c u i t . I n h i s P r i n c i p l e s of War he wrote:
"An Army i s a multitude of men who demand t o be fed everyday. This
food c o n s i s t s of good bread, wholesome meat, vegetables which are
found i n the neighbourhood of camp, s p i r i t s , and, i f p r a c t i c a b l e ,
some b e e r . I t i s not s u f f i c i e n t t o have a l l those p r o v i s i o n s f o r
t h e Army i n abundance, i t i s a l s o necessary t h a t e v e r y t h i n g should
be a t a reasonable p r i c e . "
The f i r s t improvement, i f i t could be c a l l e d t h a t , was i n 17^7 when
Parliament weakened t o the p l e a s of t h e Innkeepers t h a t t h e burden of
feeding a s o l d i e r on fourpence a day was becoming i n t o l e r a b l e .
Grudgingly Parliament conceded t o guarantee t h a t bread would be supplied
a t fivepence f o r a 6 l b l o a f , t h e e n t i t l e m e n t was t o be one 6 l b l o a f p e r
man e v e r y 4 days but we a r e t o l d t h a t t h e bread was black and not very
c o s t l y t o make.
There i s no record up t o t h i s time of F i e l d Ovens f o r the baking of
Bread being used i n t h e B r i t i s h Army. We note from Marshall S a x e ' s
memoirs t h a t t h e y had been i n use i n the French Armies since the days
of Louvois. Marshall Saxe a l s o t a l k s of an oven on wheels which was
used i n one of h i s campaigns, which, although a g r e a t s u c c e s s , was
found t o be too expensive f o r general use i n the Army.
About t h i s time the B r i t i s h s o l d i e r r e c e i v e d a lesson i n f i e l d cooking
from the American backwoodsman during the American War of Independence.
S i r Randolph Routh s a i d t h a t t h e f i e l d oven b u i l t by these backwoodsmen
was p e r f e c t l y adapted f o r the f i e l d and he described i t t h u s :
These ovens a r e u s u a l l y r a i s e d on a platform up t o 4 f t broad and
on t h i s t h e y c o n s t r u c t the c i r c u l a r form o f . t h e oven by means of
f o r e s t twigs and boughs of s u f f i c i e n t s t r e n g t h t o receive and
support the weight of cement which i s made of common c l a y s o i l and
water, mixed t o a p r o p e r consistence and put on i n successive
l a y e r s u n t i l i t a c q u i r e s t h e necessary t h i c k n e s s . An opening i s
l e f t t o introduce the b r e a d , and a common piece of wood with a
handle s u p p l i e s t h e door u n t i l i t i s baked. (The forerunner of
the Aldershot Oven? E d ) .
6
I t was during the American War of Independence, w h i l s t on a c t i v e s e r v i c e
i n t h e S t a t e of Carolina, t h a t the Army under "Earl Cornwallis, suffered
the hardships of war t o the f u l l . On the march ( i t was a h u r r i e d r e t r e a t )
the army was exposed t o the g r e a t e s t p r i v a t i o n being f r e q u e n t l y 2 days a t
a time without s u b s t a n c e . For 15 days i t was supported on Indian c o m
which was c o l l e c t e d as i t stood in the f i e l d s . Five e a r s of corn was
the allowance f o r 2 s o l d i e r s for 24 h o u r s . Not a g r e a t deal t o march
and f i g h t on.
Toward the end of the 18th Century began a l i f e and death s t r u g g l e which
was t o l a s t u n t i l the B a t t l e of Waterloo i n 1815 when the v i l l a i n of the
p i e c e , Napoleon Bonaparte, was e x i l e d for the second and f i n a l t i m e . On
one side was a rejuvenated France r e c e n t l y freed from the tyranny of
absolute monarchy, and on the o t h e r side England, Russia, A u s t r i a and
Prussia.
About t h i s time a l s o saw the break from the Innkeeper having t o b i l l e t
and feed the s o l d i e r s and in the year 1792 came the i n t r o d u c t i o n of
m i l i t a r y b a r r a c k s . They were u n s a n i t o r y and u n a t t r a c t i v e from any view
p o i n t . The o f f i c e r s f a i r e d l i t t l e b e t t e r than t h e i r men. At Woolwich
the RA Officers had t o hold t h e i r mess a t 2 obscure p u b l i c houses i n
the neighbourhood. They a t l e a s t were l u c k i e r than the o f f i c e r s
s t a t i o n e d a t Aldershot i n i t s e a r l y days where t h e r e was only one
p u b l i c house - The Royal Barge - which was l o c a t e d near t h e s i t e of
the p r e s e n t day Officers Club.
This same year the issue of b r e a d ceased and an allowance of 1-g- per day
g r a n t e d in i t s p l a c e . The s o l d i e r , however, had t o pay f u l l p r i c e f o r
h i s b r e a d so he was l i t t l e b e t t e r off. The following y e a r i n 1793 the
pay warrant s e t f o r t h the s o l d i e r s pay a s follows:
Pay a t 6d per diem
Bread money a t 1-jgd p e r diem
In a i d of n e c e s s a r i e s e t c
£ 9 . 2 . 6.
£ 2 . 5- 7 i .
£ 1 . 5. 4 i .
£ 1 2 . 1 3 . 6. p e r annum
This emolument r e p r e s e n t s about &Jd p e r day so men who j o i n e d the Army
did not do so t o g e t r i c h . William Cobbett, who was a young man s e r v i n g
i n t h e Army a t t h i s time t e l l s how he r e c e i v e d only one meal a day. I t
was always bread and meat which the s o l d i e r s nicknamed " t h e King's Own".
He says for weeks he s t r u g g l e d t o save a half-penny so t h a t he could buy
a r e d h e r r i n g f o r h i s b r e a k f a s t . When he e v e n t u a l l y saved i t , i t was
s t o l e n . On d i s c o v e r i n g the t h e f t so g r e a t did he consider h i s l o s s t h a t
he b u r s t i n t o a f i t of u n c o n t r o l l a b l e weeping.
In the year 1795 "the allowance f o r bread and n e c e s s a r i e s were c o n s o l i d a t e d
a t 2-Jd p e r day, and l a t e r i n t h i s y e a r a f u r t h e r allowance of 1-Jd p e r day
7
was granted to meet the increased cost of tread and meat. This brought
the soldiers daily pay to 10d, hut .from this he had to pay 3 shillings
weekly for his food. Two years l a t e r another 2d a day was added bringing his daily rate up to one shilling hut the messing charges were
raised to 4 shillings per week. Yet another increase followed in 1800
when an extra penny a day per man was granted, this was followed, however,
by the inevitable rise in messing charges. Although on the surface the
changes between 1792 and.1800 appear an improvement in the soldiers lot,
i t must be remembered that due to the war, the cost of living had risen
considerably so he was, in fact, l i t t l e better off.
I t i s interesting at this stage to consider the food of the Royal Navy,
this could best be i l l u s t r a t e d by-quoting from early 19th Century
comments on the subject.
Among the l i s t of sailors grievances was the matter of his food. This
was invariably bad, and the Victualling Board had a farcical system in
which the Ships Purser was given or had to buy the exact ration for the
ship's company but made allowance for wastage and other loss by issuing
14 ounces against a pound entitlement of food and 7 pints as a gallon of
liquor. This, of course, gave the impression that the sailor was being
cheated. How much sounder i t would have been to have said the ration
was 14 ounces and issued the Purser with a pound.
Short as was the quantity of water whilst at sea, the quality was worse.
Carried to sea in a number of wooden casks, decomposition rapidly took
place and the liquid was reduced to the offensiveness of excrement.
Revolting in odour and swarming with putrescent life i t was only kept
countenance by the unwholesome bread that accompanied i t . The bread
was baked by Contractors.whose only virtue was that they cheated a bad
Government, i t went to sea in the form of b i s c u i t s , with the addition of
every species of adulteration and a hardness nearly approaching that of
f l i n t . To this was added beef and pork with which salted horse mingled
freely. Well authenticated cases are known, in which, during manyyears,
meat preserved by salting and packed in casks voyaged to and fro to
different parts of the world imbibing so much of the mineral in which i t
was pickled that i t became as susceptible to polish as an agate or a
cornelian and wholly without a particle of flavour.
Although what has just been said i s so extravagant as to be amusing, the
facts are not greatly exaggerated, the comments on the food on board the
ships of the Royal Navy at t h i s time suggest that the food was unbelievably-bad — and, for that matter, disgustingly cooked. Naval cooks seem
to have been recruited exclusively from maimed and sick pensioners. The
sailors seem to have received t h e i r only solace from a very liberal
ration of beer and rum, the l a t t e r being a pint a day, or more correctly
J of a pint.
8
Chapter 3
On t h e 8th March 1801 a B r i t i s h Expeditionary Force under General
Abercromby landed in Egypt a t Aboukir Bay - the scene of Nelson's
v i c t o r y of the Nile 2 years b e f o r e . A f o r t n i g h t l a t e r p a r t of the
Army was in Alexandria and from t h i s d i s p a t c h which was sent from t h e r e
we g a i n an i n t e r e s t i n g i n s i g h t i n t o the c h a r a c t e r of the B r i t i s h S o l d i e r
of t h e e a r l y 19th Century. The dispatch reads as follows: Owing t o the
d i f f i c u l t y in procuring s p e c i e , no pay was i s s u e d t o the Army and except
when o f f i c e r s made advances to the men out of t h e i r own p o c k e t s , which
was done a t g r e a t l o s s as over 20% was l o s t on the exchange, the s o l d i e r s
had not the wherewithall t o purchase the n e c e s s i t i e s t o l i v e . Living
e n t i r e l y on t h e i r r a t i o n s i n a country abounding with_ every luxury
p a r t i c u l a r l y musk and water melons, t h e y could not command a melon or
a bunch of grapes for want of money and y e t not a murmur was h e a r d .
Everything was paid f o r as scrupulously as i n Leadenhall or Covent
Garden Market and with the t h o u g h t l e s s g e n e r o s i t y of t h e i r c h a r a c t e r
t h e B r i t i s h always r a i s e d every market by o f f e r i n g more than was asked.
This behaviour of the B r i t i s h Troops makes a s t a r t l i n g c o n t r a c t with t h a t
of Hapoleon's t r o o p s i n the F i r s t I t a l i a n Campaign 2 years e a r l i e r when
t h e y plundered and p i l l a g e d Northern I t a l y with a thoroughness t h a t would
have done c r e d i t t o A t t i l a ' s Huns.
During the Peninsula War from 1808 t o 1814 the 'Iron-Duke' Wellington, t o
whom t h e conduct of the Long Campaign was t r u s t e d , was the f i r s t English
General, with the p o s s i b l e exception of the Duke of Marlborough, t o make
a c l o s e study of supply i n the F i e l d . He spent so much of h i s time
c o n s i d e r i n g the problems of p r o v i s i o n s t h a t he used t o say besides being
a G e n e r a l , he was a f i r s t r a t e Commissariat O f f i c e r . He a l s o used t o
b o a s t t h a t ; many could l e a d t r o o p s , he could feed them. He always
e x p r e s s e d himself s t r o n g l y on the n e c e s s i t y of a system of supply. He
s a i d ; "A s t a r v i n g army i s a c t u a l l y worse than none, the s o l d i e r s lose
t h e i r s p i r i t , t h e y plunder even i n the presence of t h e i r o f f i c e r s , the .
o f f i c e r s are discontented and are almost as bad as the men." Wellington,
however, did not always f i n d i t e a s y t o provide f o r h i s t r o o p s . The
c o n d i t i o n s during the B a t t l e of Talavera of 180°. proves t h i s p o i n t . .
During a l u l l i n the b a t t l e while- the French Generals were engaged i n
c o u n c i l , the men on both s i d e s were able t o take some r e s t , and the
E n g l i s h wounded were c a r r i e d t o the r e a r . The s o l d i e r s were a l l s u f f e r i n g
from hunger. The r e g u l a r s e r v i c e s of p r o v i s i o n s had ceased for s e v e r a l
d a y s , and a few ounces of wheat formed the whole s u b s i s t e n c e of the men who
had fought, and were y e t t o f i g h t again so h a r d i l y . At t h e end of the
b a t t l e the B r i t i s h reduced t o l e s s than 14,000 sabres and bayonets were
so exhausted by t o i l and want of food t h a t t h e y could not pursue the enemy.
9
After the t a t t l e f r u i t l e s s e f f o r t s were made t o procure food and a s s i s t ance t o save t h e wounded from p e r i s h i n g . The r a t i o n c o n s i s t e d of -g- I t of
wheat i n the g r a i n , and twice a week a few ounces of f l o u r , with -J- I t of
g o a t ' s f l e s h . This formed the sole s u t s i s t e n c e of the men and o f f i c e r s .
The goats t h a t formed the meat r a t i o n had t o he caught on the h i l l s and
k i l l e d t y the t r o o p s .
The y e a r s t h a t followed t h e P e n i n s u l a War from 1815 t o 1854 were years of
complacency f o r the B r i t i s h Army. The Duke of Wellington, who, a f t e r the
B a t t l e of Waterloo, had hecome an almost godlike f i g u r e t o the B r i t i s h
P u b l i c , s t r o n g l y r e s i s t e d any reform or change. He i n s i s t e d t h a t the Army
t h a t had t e a t e n Napoleon needed n e i t h e r . At home the s o l d i e r ' s r a t i o n was
1 I t of t r e a d and -J I t of meat d a i l y , f o r which 6d a day was stopped from
h i s pay. The only cooking u t e n s i l s on i s s u e t o each company were 2 t o i l i n g p a n s ; one f o r p o t a t o e s and t h e o t h e r f o r meat. The meat was always
t e e f , so f o r want of t h e means t o r o a s t or take i t , i t i n v a r i a t l y was
t o i l e d . The s o l d i e r had 2 meals a day. B r e a k f a s t , which was served a t
0730 hours and d i n n e r , which was served a t 1230 h o u r s . This meant t h a t
f o r 19 hours he was without food. By evening he would t e hungry and weak
and only too ready t o take refuge i n s t r o n g d r i n k . I t was no t e t t e r overs e a s . In the West I n d i e s he had s a l t t e e f f o r 5 days a week and f r e s h
meat on 2 d a y s . I n M a u r i t i u s , where fresh meat was cheaper than s a l t ,
the meat and s a l t were given t o him on a l t e r n a t e days. I f t y a f o r t u n a t e
chance some s a l t pork i n t h e Haval Dockyards r e q u i r e d consumption, the
s o l d i e r e a g e r l y welcomed the change, t u t such a w i n d f a l l was r a r e . He,
t h e r e f o r e , consoled himself with s t r o n g drink of which t h e r e was u s u a l l y
a cheap and p l e n t i f u l s u p p l y . I n St Helena the men, i f they worked on the
c o n s t r u c t i o n of road, r e c e i v e d a q u a r t of wine d a i l y . In Mauritius t h e y
could g e t drunk f o r I d . I n the West I n d i e s rum was 6d a q u a r t . At the
Cape t h e y could t u y a t o t t l e of wine f o r 2jd and s p i r i t s a t an e q u a l l y
cheap r a t e . The Mediterranean Garrisons produced s i m i l a r t e m p t a t i o n s of
cheap l i q u o r . The Government, on the one hand, offered every inducement
i n the way of monotonous occupation, c l i m a t i c discomfort, t a d housing and
atundant a l c o h o l t h a t l u r e d men t o d r i n k , then on the o t h e r hand deplored
the a p p a l l i n g drunkenness of the Army.
The War Office-was, however, soon t o t e shaken out of i t s complacency. I n
1854 Lord Palmerston rushed England i n t o war with R u s s i a . The campaign
which followed i n t h e Crimea was t o prove the t i g g e s t d e t a c l e i n the
h i s t o r y of B r i t i s h Arms. Hot .only was t h e B r i t i s h Staff i n complete
ignorance of the country a t o u t t o t e invaded t u t . s h e was a l s o without
a Land Transport Corps and without adequate knowledge of the huge
o p e r a t i o n s r e q u i r e d t o e n a t l e a modern army to l i v e and move forward.
Much has t e e n w r i t t e n a t o u t the Crimean War, t h e r e i s no shortage of
references- t o t h e a p p a l l i n g waste of l i v e s , caused, not t y enemy a c t i o n ,
t u t t y inadequate c l o t h i n g , equipment, housing and f e e d i n g .
10
The s o l d i e r s were miserably weakened by sickness and overwork. They were
often only h a l f fed, t h e i r c l o t h i n g was inadequate f o r t h e i r p r o t e c t i o n
and t h e i r boots were out of r e p a i r . Fuel was d i f f i c u l t t o procure and
i t was often impossible for the men to cook t h e i r food. Officers had
underestimated t h e importance of i s s u i n g s o f t bread, fresh meat and some
d e s c r i p t i o n of v e g e t a b l e s . Was i t a wonder then t h a t the men sickened
and died, t h a t from a too free issue of s a l t p r o v i s i o n s scurvy broke out,
and t h a t some Regiments could b a r e l y muster a couple of dozen men
thoroughly f i t f o r duty? In the month of February 1855 the B r i t i s h Force
had 14,000 men f i t f o r duty, 10,000 were s i c k absent and 5>000 were s i c k
present.
On t h e 2nd February 1855 Monsieur Alexis Soyer who was an acknowledged
e x p e r t i n the c u l i n a r y a r t - he had made a name f o r himself o r g a n i s i n g
mass feeding i n I r e l a n d during t h e p o t a t o famine of 1846 - r e a d an
a r t i c l e i n the Times which described the e v i l and misery endured by the
i n v a l i d s o l d i e r for want of proper management and a d m i n i s t r a t i o n i n the
c u l i n a r y department of the h o s p i t a l s of the Bosphorous. On impulse he
took up h i s pen and wrote t h i s l e t t e r t o the Times:
'To t h e E d i t o r of the Times':
Sir,
After c a r e f u l l y perusing the l e t t e r of your correspondent date S c u t a r i ,
i n your impression of Wednesday l a s t , I perceive t h a t although the k i t c h e n
under the superintendence of Miss n i g h t i n g a l e affords so much r e l i e f , the
system of management a t the l a r g e one i n the Barrack H o s p i t a l i s f a r from
being p e r f e c t . I propose o f f e r i n g my s e r v i c e s g r a t u i t o u s l y and proceeding
d i r e c t t o S c u t a r i , a t my own p e r s o n a l expense, t o r e g u l a t e t h a t important
department, i f the Government w i l l honour me with t h e i r confidence and
g r a n t me the f u l l power of a c t i n g according t o my knowledge and experience
i n such m a t t e r s .
I have the honour t o b e , S i r ,
Your obedient Servant,
ALEXIS SOYER 2nd February 1855'
The r e s u l t of t h i s l e t t e r was a summons by the former M i n i s t e r of War,
Lord Panmure, the f r i e n d and p a t r o n of Florence N i g h t i n g a l e . Fourteen
days l a t e r Soyer disembarked a t S c u t a r i . He submitted t h e following
r e p o r t on h i s a c t i v i t i e s on h i s r e t u r n t o t h i s country some months l a t e r .
' A f t e r v i s i t i n g the v a r i o u s k i t c h e n s of the Barrack H o s p i t a l , a l l of
which were i n a very bad s t a t e , w i t h t h e approbation of the Medical
A u t h o r i t i e s and Miss N i g h t i n g a l e , the reforms I proposed were a t once
put i n t o o p e r a t i o n . The following i s ' a l i s t of r e c i p e s I i n t r o d u c e d .
(The r e c i p e s w i l l be p u b l i s h e d l a t e r , E d ) .
11
These recipes were also introduced into the other hospital of the
Bosphorous. I cannot refrain from remarking that prior to my arrival
at Scutari all the provisions supplied by the Constantinople contractors
were not only badly cooked but of the worst quality. Having completed my
reforms at the hospitals of the Bosphorous I set off for the Crimea in
the company of Miss Nightingale. On arriving there and after being
introduced to the General-in-Chief Lord Raglan and the Medical Superintendent Sir John Hall, I set to work commencing with the Sanatorium
Hospitals. I found them in the same bad state as those at Constantinople. Having started my system I visited the various Regiments and
Messes to initiate myself into the mysteries of military cooking as
practised by the different divisions. I found that salt beef was much
too highly salted as was the pork, these meats being served to the men
for the day's consumption on the morning of the day they were to partake
of them; they had not the time to soak them and even if they had there
were not tubs in which they could place their rations. To sum up, both
the cooking and the attendant canteen apparatus were quite unfit and
useless to the men. The way the fires were made was wasteful in the
extreme and by no means adapted for cooking for men in a permanent
position such as that occupied by the Army. Each company would dig
their kitchen in the ground in the following manner:
They would cut a groove in the earth 1 ft in depth and 6 ft in length,
making the hoops from the casks to form bars across the surface. The
wood was then placed under them in large logs consuming about 7 8 % more
than requisite, and burning so irregularly that all graduated cooking
was out of the question. Very often the wind and rain, would, in a few
minutes utterly annihilate the fire, the men consequently going without
their meals.
The container pot held only 12 pints of water and the small space in the
pan after the meat was placed in would allow 4 to 5 pints of water to
boil in it which was not sufficient and caused the fat to become a dark
sticky mass that ought to have formed an excellent dripping, which was
afterwards the case when the meat was cooked in my field stove; when the
field stove was used, from every one cwt of salt meat 10 lbs of dripping
was produced and used in lieu of butter. This in an army of 40,000
furnished 2 tons which was previously thrown away daily.
The items of dried vegetables were distributed in supplies for 3 days and
often the men would use the whole in 2 days going without any on the third
day. The, greatest inconvenience was also found in boiling proper quantities the preserved dried vegetables, the proper use of them not being
understood by the men who have been using as much again as.was requisite.
To check this I had the large cakes formed into squares sufficient for
12 men. Eight squares being enough for a company of 100 men; these cakes
I consider an important item of diet and trust they will be issued in
future campaigns.' '
12
Chapter 4
Alexis Soyer is probably most famous for the field cooking stove he
designed and introduced into the Army. Here is his description of i t :
"Prior to my departure from England when Lord Panmure desired me to
proceed to the seat of war, I remarked to his lordship that the canteen
pan as used at Chobham was quite unfit for cooking purposes and proposed
to him that I should think the matter over and if I could invent a stove
f i t for outdoor cooking, I would submit the same for his approval. In a
few days the model was complete, and answered the purpose intended
admirably, independently of which i t was applicable for indoor as well
as open a i r cooking, making i t at once useful either in camp, hospital
or barrack.. Another consideration was i t s portability, which enabled
i t to be carried in the rear of regiments while on the march.
Twelve of these stoves having been completed and forwarded to me in the
Crimea, I made a public t r i a l of them, at which above one thousand of the
highest military and medical authorities were present, including the
2 a l l i e d Commanders-in-Chief, General Simpson and the Due de Malakoff.
The stove is so constructed that the intensity of the heat can be
modulated to the greatest nicety by the action of the valve situated
under the furnace door, the interior grating being so made that only a
small amount of fuel can be introduced at a time, whilst the flame,
instead of acting only on the bottom of the copper i s made to play
equally over a l l the outer surface. The l i d i s a i r t i g h t which prevents
evaporation, and the material of which the stove is made i s malleable
iron, capable of resisting the action of the a i r in any climate. I t may
be f i t t e d up for baking, roasting and steaming and in i t can be cooked
s a l t beef, pork, Irish stew, ragout, stewed beef, tea, coffee, cocoa e t c ,
a l l with the greatest economy. I t weights about 5 cwt and can be taken
to pieces for the convenience of carriage.
Each stove will consume not more than 12 to 15 pounds of fuel and allowing •'
20 stoves to a regiment the consumption would be 300 pounds per thousand
men. The allowance per man I believe i s 3lr lb each which gives a t o t a l of
3,500 lb per thousand. The saving in fuel would consequently be 3,200 lb
per regiment daily. Coal will be burnt with the same advantage."
Coffee and tea had been an issue to the troops when available since the
Peninsular War.' They were considered by the- dieticians to be an invalu- ' '
able addition to the ration. Of them the chemist Be Christison says:
I t i s difficult to over value the proposed addition of tea and coffee to
the men's rations. They possess a renovating power, in circumstances of
unusual fatigue which is constantly experienced in civil l i f e , and which
13
I have heard officers, who served in the Spanish campaigns, as well as the
late Burmese War describe in the strongest terms. This, however, is not
a l l , for i t has recently been shown by a very curious physiological inquiry,
that both of them, and especially coffee, possess the singular property of
dimishing materially the wear and tear of the soft textures of the body .in
the exercise of i t s functions in an active occupation.
Coffee was issued in the Crimean Campaign hut the coffee t e r r y issued in
a green state to troops who had no utensils for roasting i t and grinding
i t , and who were short of fire wood, showed an incredible amount of
ignorance on the part of those responsible for the troops rations.
I t has been seen that bread, with meat, had been the soldier's diet for
centuries, yet in the Crimea none was issued for the f i r s t 9 months of
the campaign for lack of the means to bake i t . Biscuit was issued in i t s
place. As salted meat and not fresh meat was issued with i t there were
many cases of dysentery. So eager were the troops for fresh bread that
they'used to exchange 5 pounds of biscuits for one pound of bread with
the French soldiers, whose f i r s t concern, after making t h e i r camp, was
to construct a field bakery.
(Similar exchanges were made between the British and American soldiers
in the Second World War and Korean War. Ed).
The difficulty of supplying fresh bread was eventually overcome by the
construction of a floating mill and a floating bakery. This description •
of the 2 ships is taken from Edward Barrington de Panblanque's Book on
the Organisation and Administration of the British Army.
When the f i r s t war broke out an officer of the commissariat proposed the
construction of a floating mill and bakery to accompany the expedition to
the East with the view of regularly supplying the troops with soft bread
of good quality.
The plan admirably conceived and most ingeniously worked out in a l l i t s
d e t a i l s , was not, however, carried out in effect u n t i l nearly a year
l a t e r and after the worst, of bread, had contributed, among other causes,
to the disease and mortality which so terribly weakened our army during
the f i r s t 6 months after our invasion of the Crimea. In the early part
of I855 2 screw.steamers were f i t t e d out in accordance with Mr Julyan's
plan and under his direction, the- One as a flour mill and the other as a
bakery. Both continued to be employed with the greatest benefit to the
troops down to the close of war.
The mill machinery of the TBruiser" was very similar to that used on
shore in t h i s country, with only such modifications as was necessary to
adapt i t to i t s novel position and to counteract the constant and varying position and motion of the vessel at sea.
14
These d i f f i c u l t i e s were s u c c e s s f u l l y overcome and the m i l l was found t o
answer admirahly i n moderate weather a t s e a , grinding a t the r a t e of
20 h u s h e l l s an hour, while the v e s s e l a t the same time made 1% k n o t s ,
both m i l l and ship machinery being p r o p e l l e d by the marine engine of
only 80 horse power.
The g r i n d i n g machinery was driven from the screw s h a f t of t h e v e s s e l ;
and without the a i d of manual power t h e wheat was t a k e n from the h o l d ,
winnowed, and c a r r i e d to the hoppers and the f l o u r cooled, dressed
and d e l i v e r e d i n t o s a c k s .
I n t h e harbour the d a i l y produce of f l o u r was about 24,000 l b from very
hard wheat, f u l l of small g r a v e l , and consequently more d i f f i c u l t t o
grind.
I t was o r i g i n a l l y intended t h a t t h i s m i l l should be capable of producing
s u f f i c i e n t f l o u r to make 20,000 loaves of bread p e r diem, but i t proved
equal t o a considerably l a r g e r productive power, and not the l e a s t of
i t s many admirable powers and q u a n t i t i e s was, t h a t i t never once got out
of order during i t s whole p e r i o d of s e r v i c e .
The bakery ship Abundance was converted i n t o a very complete workshop,
c o n t a i n i n g 4 ovens of 14 bushel each, f i t t e d with coal f u r n a c e s , h o t and
cold water c i s t e r n s , steam machinery f o r kneading the dough, and every
known modern appliance c a l c u l a t e d t o increase the e f f i c i e n c y of such an
establishment.
The bakery was o r i g i n a l l y intended t o produce a t a low e s t i m a t e ,
20,000 l b of bread p e r diem, i n 4 l b l o a v e s , but i t was subsequently
found e a s i e r for purposes of s u b - d i v i s i o n i n t o r a t i o n s , t o bake loaves
of 3 l b each, thus the d a i l y produce of the ovens was reduced t o an
average of 18,000 l b and a t t h i s r a t e the bakery y i e l d e d e x c e l l e n t
b r e a d from the time the v e s s e l a r r i v e d in the B a l a c l a v a .
These v e s s e l s were s o l d immediately a f t e r the war. S e l l i n g them was a
s h o r t s i g h t e d p o l i c y because when the o f f i c e r i n charge of t h e
commissariat of the China e x p e d i t i o n , who had had p r a c t i c a l experience
of t h e complete success of t h e 2 steam f a c t o r i e s , a p p l i e d f o r a " f l o a t i n g
b a k e r y " , i t was found t h a t too much time would be r e q u i r e d t o prepare a
new s h i p , and h i s request could not be complied w i t h . So once again the
t r o o p s went without b r e a d .
I n t h e same book de Fariblanque makes t h e s e observations on the cooking
s k i l l of the B r i t i s h S o l d i e r :
The E n g l i s h s o l d i e r r e q u i r e s and received a l a r g e r allowance of animal
foods t h a n any other t r o o p s , b u t ample as the r a t i o n i s , c o n s i s t i n g of
•J- l b on home service and 1 l b abroad ( i n c r e a s e d i n the f i e l d sometimes
t o 1-g- l b when the meat i s poor) the defective system of cookery which
15
has long p r e v a i l e d i n our army renders i t f r e q u e n t l y i n s u f f i c i e n t t o
maintain t h e s o l d i e r i n h e a l t h and s t r e n g t h . The French or Sardinian
( I t a l i a n ) s o l d i e r ' s allowance r a r e l y exceeds -J- l b of i n f e r i o r meat,
y e t he manages by j u d i c i o u s cookery, iiot only t o make i t suffice t o
furnish him with 2 meals hut he v a r i e s h i s food from day t o day. Our
men, with r a r e e x c e p t i o n s , continue from one years end to another t o
l i v e upon a dish prepared i n u t t e r defiance of the most elementary
p r i n c i p l e s of the c u l i n a r y a r t , and i n a manner l e a s t c a l c u l a t e d t o
develop the n u t r i t i v e q u a l i t i e s of t h e meat, or t o render i t p a l a t a b l e .
The a t t e n t i o n drawn r e c e n t l y t o t h i s s u b j e c t w i l l , i t i s hoped have the
e f f e c t of i n t r o d u c i n g a thorough reform i n our system of cooking and
a f f o r d the s o l d i e r the f u l l b e n e f i t d e r i v a b l e from h i s r a t i o n .
As these remarks were w r i t t e n i n I858 i t would appear t h a t l i t t l e n o t i c e
had been taken of S o y e r ' s recommendations.
One of the r e s u l t s of ' t h e a t t e n t i o n drawn r e c e n t l y t o t h i s s u b j e c t ' was
t h e following d i e t a r y scheme submitted by Colonel A M TULLOCH. I t was
submitted t o the Commission of I n q u i r y i n t o the S a n i t a r y s t a t e of the
army h e l d i n 1857- He s t a r t s h i s r e p o r t by saying:
The f i r s t s t e p must be t o i n s t r u c t our s o l d i e r s i n the rudiments of the
a r t of cooking, of which t h e y a r e now lamentably d e f i c i e n t . He then
suggests t h e menus. (The f i r s t weekly B i l l of Fare? E d ) .
Breakfast
Bread 8 oz
Coffee s oz
Sugar
1 oz
Milk
1 gill
Dinners
—~——
No 1
——
I r i s h Stew
/ M„..
^ Mutton
( Potatoes
( Onions
Rice Pudding ( Rice
( Milk
( Sugar
Supper
Bread
Tea
Sugar
Milk
10 „„
12 oz
16 oz
•§• oz
2 j oz
2§ g i l l s
11 drams
Ho 2
S a l t Beef o r Pork
Pease Soup
12 oz
(Pease •§• p t
(Onions -J- oz
Colcamon
(Potatoes 8 oz
(Greens
8 oz
Bread
5§- oz
16
8
-51
1
oz
oz
oz
gill
Ho B
Mutton Baked
Soup containing
12 oz
(Vegetables 8 oz
(Rice o r Barley 2 oz
Potatoes
Bread
16 oz
* oz
Ho-4
Beef, Baked
Potatoes
Plum Pudding (Flour
(Raisins
(Suet
(Sugar
12 oz
16 oz
2t oz
1 oz
1 oz
1 oz
Ho 5
12 oz
8 oz
a5j-ozoz
Mutton, Boiled
Vegetables
Potatoes
Bread
Ho 6
12 oz
8 oz
8 oz
5if oz
Beef, Stewed
Vegetables
Potatoes
Bread
(There is no-mention of Ho 7, so it is assumed that Sunday was the
cooks off duty day. Ed).
It is interesting at this stage to compare the field rations issued to
the armies of the 5 countries taking part in the Crimea War.
17
81
M
W
1>J
ON
(COUNT COVOURS
ITALIAN ARMY)
SARDINIAN
w
H
ro
o
M
ro
ro
OSKD
o\
o ^
O
N
Bread
O
Heat
ro
O
N
Rice
O
Sugar
O
Coffee
ON
ON
OJ
o^vo
1
OJ
-ft.
'
'
ChJuJ
d^
ro
»
1
o%|\o
ojvo
UJ
1
1
.
o\M
-
fc[U
rf^lCJ
*h
*|u
1
1
ro
1
1
1
UJ
-
K|H
i>|U
When Avai Lable
M[H
1
Spirits
O
N
Salt
O
Pepper
O
I
Vinegar
When Avai Lable
1
Lime Juice
1
».
I
1
1
1
1
'
p.
Sourkraut
Peas o r B a r l e y
Chapter 5
In 1857, the year a f t e r the end of the Crimean War, the "Sepoy Revolt"
(The Indian Mutiny) took p l a c e . The commissariat, which had f a i l e d so
hadly in the Crimea, did a much b e t t e r job t h e r e .
Throughout the campaign the commissariat never f a i l e d ; the t r o o p s were
i n v a r i a b l y well supplied, and even during the longest marches f r e s h
bread was i s s u e d almost d a i l y .
At t h i s p e r i o d i n 1867 the pay of the B r i t i s h P r i v a t e s o l d i e r was
1s 1d a day. One penny of t h i s was b e e r money.
Deducted from i t was 8jd for r a t i o n s , g r o c e r i e s and v e g e t a b l e s . With
t h e remaining 4l|d he had t o pay b a r r a c k damages, washing, replacement
of equipment and c l o t h i n g , soap and shaving a r t i c l e s . So he was s t i l l
very underpaid.
During the years 1870-71 the Franco-German war was t o give Europe a
f o r e t a s t e of the German M i l i t a r y e f f i c i e n c y and a t t e n t i o n t o d e t a i l i t
has come t o know so well i n the l a s t 90 y e a r s . I t was the second of the
modern wars involving m i l l i o n s of troops (The American C i v i l War 5 y e a r s
e a r l i e r was the f i r s t ) .
Hever before i n a war involving l a r g e masses of men had troops been as
well fed as the German s o l d i e r i n the campaign of 1870-71.
An idea of the magnitude of the German commissariat's t a s k can be gained
by the average d a i l y requirement of t h e Germany Army i n France: 148,000
3 l b loaves of bread, 102,000 l b s of r i c e , 539 oxen or 102,000.lbs of
bacon, 14,000 l b s of s a l t , 900,000 l b s of o a t s , 2,400,000 l b s of hay,
28,000 q u a r t s of s p i r i t s .
A l a r g e supply of coffee, sugar and many thousand c i g a r s . .The p r o v i s i o n s
and forage f o r each army corps each day f i l l e d 5 railway t r a i n s , each one
composed of 32 wagons. To meet t h i s commitment t h e German commissariat
.employed: 140 O f f i c e r s , t r a i n of the l i n e ; 1,500 Officers of the Landwehr,
who had served i n the C a v a l r y : o r i n the A r t i l l e r y ; 45,500 s o l d i e r s of the
t r a i n ; 48,000 saddle or draught h o r s e s ; 11,600 2 or 6 .horse c a r r i a g e s .
They s t a f f e d ; 82 ordinary p r o v i s i o n s columns (supply t r a i n s ) ; 18 butchery
and bakery t r a i n s ; 18 movable remount depots; 14 squadrons of e s c o r t
52 Bearer companies; 197 Movable f i e l d h o s p i t a l s , 17 Reserve depots f o r
h o s p i t a l s . I t was i n t h i s war the p r e s e r v e d canned meat was f i r s t i s s u e d
t o the s o l d i e r . Three m i l l i o n pounds of i t was purchased by Germany
from England i n I869.
19
Mention, so far, has only been made of large wars carried out in f e r t i l e
countries in which i t was possible to make use of the local resources
and transport.
During the 19th century Great Britain was involved in a succession of
small wars in underdeveloped countries which afforded neither local
resources or transport. The following 2 campaigns i l l u s t r a t e the
hardships suffered by the British soldier in this type of campaign.
In 1867 King Theodore of Abyssinia imagined himself slighted by Queen
Victoria who had not replied to a l e t t e r he had written her. In a f i t
of the Royal rage, for which he was famous, he imprisoned a l l the
British subjects in his t e r r i t o r i e s . The British Government decided
he needed to be taught a lesson and sent an Expeditionary Force to
Abyssinia.
At the beginning of the campaign which started in January 1868 there was
no shortage of rations which were issued to the following daily scale:
European Troops
Native Troops
1 lb Biscuits
or
1 lb Bread
1 lb Fresh Meat
1 lb ve-getables
2-§- ozs sugar
4 ozs rice
5/7 oz tea
2/3 oz salt
3 lbs firewood
2 lbs Rice
or
2 lb Flour
4 ozs Dholl
2 ozs ghee
•§• oz salt
1-g- ozs tobacco
or
3 ozs sugar
ji oz pepper
•|- oz tumerio
i oz chillies
Hative Followers
1 lb Rice
or
1 lb Flour
4 ozs Dholl
1 oz ghee
-§- oz salt
A month l a t e r the scarcity of rice led to a reduction in the scale and
in March the ration was further reduced t o :
Watives
1 lb Flour
Europeans
1 lb Biscuits
or Flour'
.2 ozs Vegetables
•§• oz Salt
1-J- oz Sugar
•J- oz Tea
1 dram Rum
1 lb Flour
2 ozs Ghee if obtainable
locally
jz oz Salt
2 ozs Vegetables once a week
20
Every effort was made to purchase grain and other provisions from the
chiefs and from the inhabitants, hut that part of Abyssinia crossed by
the British Force on its advance to Magdala was wretchedly poor. It
produced no vegetables; milk and butter were occasionally procurable;
eggs and poultry were scarce and dear; there was little grain or grass
in comparison with the requirements of the Force. Forage was very
scarce, and it was from the effects of insufficient food and very hard
work combined, that the mortality in transport animals was so great.
During the 4 weeks that the Force was south of Takazze, the troops were
very badly fed, and had no compressed vegetables, lime juice, sugar or
rum. Biscuits and rice were issued occasionally. The beef procured in
the country was excessively poor, tough and hard, and the ration had to
be increased to 2 lbs. The inhabitants of the country were persuaded
with difficulty to part with their sheep. Instead of bread, flour was
issued and made into chupatties, the flour was a mixture of wheat, barley
and bageree. Hative bread, called "gogo," was made of thisflour, and
was largely consumed by the troops, but it was insufficiently baked and
very indigestable. The provisions were decreasing rapidly; the animals
were sometimes on half rations, and very often on quarter.
The 15 days supply was expended early in April, and for some time after
the 1st of the month the ration of the troops and followers had to be
reduced to 1 lb of meat, 8 or 10 ozs of flour and such salt as was
procurable in the country. Bowel complaint produced by bad feeding, bad
water, and exposure to rain, became prevalent amongst both the Europeans
and natives of India. On the 21st April the Principal Medical Officer
felt bound to address a complaint to the Commander—in—Chief, informing
his Excellency that the want of vegetables, sugar and rum was telling
on the health of the troops. The great difficulty lay in the transport
of provisions.
In 1873 the British Government felt impelled to go to war against the
Ashantee King 'Coffee Calcali' who was threatening the security of the
Gold Coast Protectorate. (Now the Commonwealth of Ghana).
The campaign that followed was not a remarkable military operation. It is
worth mentioning because it was the first time British Troops fought in the
Jungle conditions well known to those who served with the 14th Army in
Burma or later with the Internal Security Forces in Malaya. A description
of the country, which even then was well known as the "White lfa.n's Grave",
is given us by the famous explorer H M Stanley who accompanied the
expedition as a special correspondent:
It was all forest; forest here, forest there, forest monopolizing every
fathom of land save the road. The few villages which stud the mainway
21
from Cape Coast Castle to the Interior are located on the very limit of
this forest, and are not surrounded by smiling fields. The tribesmen
cultivate no crops, they are satisfied to feed on various roots and
snails, supplemented by a few pumpkins, the tendrils of which are
allowed to creep over their miserable huts. There is not a head of
cattle in the land, no sheep, no goats and not an atom of food to which
Europeans are accustomed.
Before the campaign the British had accumulated at Cape Coast Castle large
quantities of Australian meat, salt provisions, "biscuits, rice, flour,
preserved potatoes, vegetables and lime juice. Sufficient in fact to
adopt the following very generous ration scale which the Medical
Authorities considered essential if the soldier was to remain healthy in
such an unhealthy climate:
li lbs Meat, Salt or Fresh
1 lb Canned Meat
1-g- lb Biscuit
4 oz Dressed Vegetables
2 ozs Rice or 2 ozs Preserved Peas
3 ozs Sugar
x oz Tea
-g- oz Salt
1/36 oz pepper
Once again the great difficulty was transport. Everything had to be
carried by native bearers who were apt to panic and run off into the
jungle•
Early in the campaign it was necessary to put the troops on half rations
and towards the end they were fortunate if they got a quarter of their
entitlement.
It was in the year of the Ashantee war that the soldier's pay was actually
reduced to one shilling. This was because the deduction for bread and
meat was abolished. They were now a free issue. As he was liable to a
maximum deduction of 5<1 Per day messing and -gd per day laundry he was
1-gd a day better off.
Ten years later in 1883 the first Cookery School was opened. It was
located at Salamanca Barracks in Aldershot and was for Sergeants only.
In 1888 a committee was formed by the War Office to investigate the
soldiers' food. It made these 2 recommendations.
(a) That the.quality of flour used for making the troops bread
should be improved. -'
(b) That 2 lb loaves be issued instead of the 4 lb loaf.
22
They were accepted and implemented. Although only a s l i g h t improvement
t h e y cost the s t a t e £11,200.00 a y e a r .
In 1899 Colonel George Armand Furse CB, a r e t i r e d o f f i c e r of the Black
Watch published h i s hook P r o v i s i o n i n g Armies i n the F i e l d and made
reference t o the dangers of overfeeding.
He makes some p e r t i n e n t observations a l s o i n the methods of s u b s i s t i n g
a r m i e s . He recommends a l l commanders t o have t h e i r armies as free as
p o s s i b l e from encumbrances, so t h a t t h e y may he a t a l l times f i t and
ready t o undertake any e x p e d i t i o n or e n t e r p r i s e . He remarks t h a t a l l the
d i f f i c u l t i e s which have b e s e t the armies h i t h e r t o have come from e i t h e r a
want or an exuberance of p r o v i s i o n s . I t i s the system of the a n c i e n t s
t h a t finds favour i n h i s e y e s ; they fed t h e i r men with f r u g a l i t y , made
them hake t h e i r own t r e a d , and be s a t i s f i e d with w a t e r . He condemns the
system of modem armies, inasmuch as i t i s dependant on too many burdensome and c o s t l y a r t i c l e s .
All o f f i c e r s who have undergone any t r a i n i n g i n a t h l e t i c s know t h a t
constant hard and sharp e x e r c i s e i s not s u f f i c i e n t t o "bring the body
i n t o condition t o perform some f e a t of s t r e n g t h or endurance, and t h a t
t h i s must be combined with r i g i d a b s t i n e n c e . Training t o he the r e s o l u t e
performance of the 3 c a r d i n a l v i r t u e s - t e m p e r a n c e , soberness, and c h a s t i t y .
The Roman S o l d i e r r i g h t l y regarded abstemiousness as a m i l i t a r y v i r t u e ,
t o he p r a c t i s e d as a useful t r a i n i n g and p r e p a r a t i o n a g a i n s t t h e h a r d s h i p s
of war. Except, on a c t i v e s e r v i c e , our t r o o p s are never i n c o n d i t i o n ;
the care taken i n t h e i r lodging and i n t h e i r feeding i s very commendable
n e v e r t h e l e s s i t can be c a r r i e d , and i s c a r r i e d , t o e x c e s s .
In war t h e r e must be s u f f e r i n g ; often t h e r e i s more than i s necessary, but
much of i t i s due t o i n e x p e r i e n c e .
23
Chapter 6
I n 1907 the s c a l e of cookhouse equipment was r e v i s e d and improved.
I n 1910 t h e second of t h e . War Office Committees was formed t o enquire
i n t o t h e s o l d i e r s f e e d i n g . General S i r Frank Clayton was i t s chairman.
I t s c h a r t e r was t o i n v e s t i g a t e t h e various messing systems used i n the
army w i t h t h e view t o adopting one s t a n d a r d system.
The Committee made l i t t l e headway due to wide disagreement amongst u n i t s .
N e v e r t h e l e s s i t made t h e following recommendations:
That t h e p r i c e s of food commodities he s t a n d a r d i s e d .
That i t was n e c e s s a r y t o o b t a i n a common s t a n d a r d of messing i n the Army.
The same committee was formed again i n 1911. As a r e s u l t of i t s
recommendations t h i s time the f i r s t messing a d v i s e r was introduced i n t o
the army. He was t o advise on c a t e r i n g i n the e n t i r e army, both a t home
and o v e r s e a s . This was a formidable t a s k f o r one man.
I n 1914 t h e murder of an Austrian Archduke i n some obscure Serbian town
s t a r t e d a c o n f l i c t i n Europe which i n 4 y e a r s was t o k i l l some 10 m i l l i o n
of E u r o p e ' s manhood. As the war dragged out Great B r i t a i n i n c r e a s e d the
s i z e of h e r army i n Prance u n t i l i t numbered more than one m i l l i o n .
Feeding t h i s army was a g i g a n t i c t a s k . Some conception of i t s magnitude
can be g a i n e d by the following, l i s t of p r o v i s i o n s handled by the Army
S e r v i c e Corps i n t h e l a s t 18 months of the war:
Cheese
Jam
Biscuit '
Flour
69,000,000
176,520,000
214,718,000
846,564,000
lb
lb
lb
lb
These d e s c r i p t i o n s of t r o o p s feeding arrangements i n the 1914-18 war are
t a k e n from "The Great War", the Standard H i s t o r y of t h e All Europe C o n f l i c t .
Whilst r e a d i n g them i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t o bear i n mind t h a t the German Army
was aboui} 4 times l a r g e r than ours and t h a t Germany had no l a r g e food
p r o d u c i n g Commonwealth Countries from which t o purchase s u p p l i e s .
Hot m e a l s and f u l l meals have been spoken of and i n these t h i n g s l a y
undoubtedly the s e c r e t of much of our men's f i g h t i n g e f f i c i e n c y . The food
s e r v e d t o t h e s o l d i e r s i n France was undoubtedly e x c e l l e n t i n q u a l i t y and
generous i n q u a n t i t y . I n the Army, as elsewhere, could be found cooks who
would s p o i l any food no m a t t e r how good, but in the main the food supply
and meals - i n a l l p l a c e s save the very advanced and exposed p o s i t i o n s
where cooking was impossible and t r a n s p o r t d i f f i c u l t — were good and there
24
was very l i t t l e grumbling on the score of had or i n s u f f i c i e n t food. In
the e a r l y morning in these garrisoned v i l l a g e s behind t h e l i n e s i t was
i n t e r e s t i n g t o stand near t h e cookhouses and watch the mess and b i l l e t
o r d e r l i e s coming along with t h e i r mess t i n s , t o be c a r r i e d away l a t e r t o
t h e i r q u a r t e r s f i l l e d with s l i c e s of e x c e l l e n t bacon. In the b i l l e t s or
messes, i f there were many men, they would f i l e p a s t a corporal who stood'
behind the bacon dish p u t t i n g so many s l i c e s onto each p l a t e . Each can
u s u a l l y c a r r i e d a piece of bread which he was allowed to dip i n t o the f a t
in the d i s h .
Marmalade and jam of e x c e l l e n t q u a l i t y were a l s o a v a i l a b l e t o anyone who
wanted them. A very good b u t t e r was served t o the t r o o p s , though on
occasions margarine was served as a s u b s t i t u t e . When asked on what
system margarine was i s s u e d , the men s a i d they could not t e l l ; as a' r u l e
they were given nothing but b u t t e r , though now and again an odd t i n of
margarine was i s s u e d to them.
For dinner the b e s t j o i n t s were cooked — a l l f r e s h meat from England —
and there might be puddings. Stews and soups were served a t i n t e r v a l s .
The milk issued t o the forces was everywhere well spoken of. I t was
t i n n e d milk, but n e i t h e r so t h i c k nor so s t i c k y as t h e o r d i n a r y t i n n e d
milk, and from a small hole stabbed through the top of the t i n of milk
with a jack knife i t would flow q u i t e e a s i l y — a white f l u i d of about
t h e d e n s i t y of t h e cream u s u a l l y sold a t home i n l i t t l e brown p o t s .
Though p l e n t y of jam was t o be had our s o l d i e r s often used t o say t h a t
they missed the sweet dishes they used t o get a t home. One RAMC s p e c i a l i s t s t a t e d t h a t s o l d i e r s who did not take alcohol t o any g r e a t e x t e n t
were more fond, he had n o t e d , of sugar than s o l d i e r s who took a l c o h o l
and t h a t he had an i n t e r e s t i n g theory t h a t the 2 t h i n g s had some common
p r o p e r t y of which the body of people who worked hard stood i n need.
The s o l d i e r s spent a good deal of t h e i r money on chocolate and sweets
and t i n n e d f r u i t . The Army Canteens sold them, and i t was no uncommon
s i g h t t o see a s o l d i e r a f t e r a s p e l l i n the t r e n c h e s buy a t i n f u l of say,
peaches, a p r i c o t s or p e a r s , p r i s e open the cover with h i s knife and e a t
t h e c o n t e n t s , unaccompanied by anything e l s e . P o s s i b l y the sugar of the
men's d i e t was not always s u f f i c i e n t t o enable them t o w i t h s t a n d the cold
and the work t h e y were c a l l e d upon t o endure.
The feeding amongst our m i l l i o n men was p r o p e r l y generous. I t was
assumed t h a t every man had the same a p p e t i t e , and t h a t t h i s was a l a r g e "
one, as every man had each day:
1-|- l b Fresh Meat
1 l b P r e s e r v e d Meat
1-j- l b Bread
4 oz Jam
3 oz Sugar
•§- oz Tea
8 oz Vegetablss
2 oz B u t t e r (weekly)
OR
1 lb Biscuit
4 oz Bacon
25
With a m i l l i o n consuming d a i l y r a t i o n s of t h i s s o r t the labour thrown on
t h e ASC and t h e t r a n s p o r t department was enormous. Six hundred tons of
meat, 600 t o n s of b r e a d , more than 100 tons of bacon and jam n e a r l y
100 t o n s of cheese and sugar had to be d e l i v e r e d every day. Then i n
a d d i t i o n t h e r e was an e x t r a o r d i n a r y p r i v a t e supply of p r o v i s i o n s and
l i t t l e l u x u r i e s through the p a r c e l p o s t .
A d a y ' s f r e s h mutton f o r the army would be r e p r e s e n t e d by a flock of
sheep s p r e a d i n g 3 m i l e s down an ordinary country road, g i v i n g the Army
b u t c h e r s such an amount of work as would overcome them. In f a c t they
could n o t have c a r r i e d i t out a s t h e i r numbers were n o t s u f f i c i e n t .
R e f r i g e r a t e d meats and corned beef and mutton were used t o save space,
c a t t l e m e n and l a b o u r . The French a u t h o r i t i e s made a g a l l a n t s t r u g g l e t o
provide t h e i r v a s t e r army with f r e s h l y k i l l e d homebred meat b u t t h e y
could n o t continue t h i s estimable p o l i c y . As the war lengthened out,
and t h e a p p e t i t e of the French s o l d i e r i n c r e a s e d with a year of open
a i r l i f e , he t h r e a t e n e d t o e a t up a l l the sheep and oxen i n F r a n c e .
Farmers grew anxious about the probable condition of t h e i r stocks a t the
end of t h i s s t r u g g l e and the upshot was t h a t both t h e French t r o o p s and
urban p o p u l a t i o n had t o be g r a c e f u l l y educated by the government i n
r e c o g n i t i o n of the p a t r i o t i c v i r t u e s of r e f r i g e r a t e d meat.
From t h e s e e x t r a c t s i t appears t h a t g e n e r a l l y the B r i t i s h s o l d i e r i n
France f e d f a i r l y w e l l . At home, however, food shortage made l i f e
d i f f i c u l t f o r everyone, e s p e c i a l l y f o r women with young c h i l d r e n . Before
r a t i o n i n g was i n t r o d u c e d queuing was the order of the day. P r i c e s rose
w i t h alarming c o n s i s t e n c y and i n 1918 seemed t o r i s e d a i l y . The i n f l a t i o n
which always accompanies war i s i l l u s t r a t e d by these comparisons:
B u t t e r (per l b )
Golden Syrup ( p e r l b )
Eggs ( p e r dozen)
Bacon ( p e r l b )
Marmalade (per l b )
19U
1s 3d
6§d
1s 6d
10§d
10§d
1918
2s 6d
2s 6d
9s Od
2s 6d
2s 10d
I n 1920 the forerunner of the Army School of Catering was e s t a b l i s h e d a t
C h i s t l e d o n , n e a r Swindon. To send t h e i r regimental cooks t h e r e t o be
t r a i n e d , U n i t s had t o pay course attendance f e e s from regimental f u n d s .
I n 1921 the Treasury, f o r the f i r s t t i m e , accepted the p r i n c i p l e t h a t
t h e p u b l i c was r e s p o n s i b l e f o r feeding the s o l d i e r and the f i r s t r a t i o n
s c a l e was approved. I t c o n s i s t e d of:
Meat
12 oz
Bread
16 oz
Bacon
2 oz
Cash allowance: 3gd
26
In 1925 the School at Chistledon was moved to Aldershot where it was
located in the RASC Training Centre lines and run under RASC supervision.
At the time there was still no Tradesmen Cook in the army, and unless
it came from Regimental Funds, no tradesmen pay. The work of cooking was
without honour; in many units it was a type of fatigue or at its best the
appropriate occupation for the least efficient personnel of the unit.
This state of affairs continued until 1937 when Mr Hore Belisha became
Secretary of State for War. By this time the Royal Navy and the Royal Air
Force has recognised cooking as a trade. It was felt, with justification,
that Army Feeding was much below the standard achieved by civilian
industrial canteens.
With this background a committee under the Chairmanship of Major-General
E A BECK was formed to enquire into the cooking and method of providing
cooks, their pay, conditions of service and prospects of promotion.
The recommendations of this committee backed up by energetic action on
the part of the War Minister were to result in the formation of a catering
service and the birth of the Army Catering Corps.
2?
Chapter 7
The recommendations of Major General BECK's Committee i n 1937 t h a t were
t o r e s u l t i n such wide-sweeping changes i n Army c a t e r i n g were t h e
i n t r o d u c t i o n of:
More s k i l l e d s u p e r v i s i o n
More comprehensive t r a i n i n g a t t h e Army School of Cookery
An a t t r a c t i v e c a r e e r , thus e n s u r i n g a b e t t e r type of man and more
continuity
B e t t e r pay and promotion p r o s p e c t s
An e a r l y modernisation programme f o r a l l army k i t c h e n s and d i n i n g
h a l l s , with a speeding up of the n e c e s s a r y supply of modern
u t e n s i l s f o r cooking
I n 1938 Mr Hore B e l i s h a , S e c r e t a r y of S t a t e f o r War, asked the l a t e S i r
I s i d o r e Salmon, Chairman of Messrs J Lyons & Co Ltd, t o become the
Honorary C a t e r i n g Adviser t o t h e Army. S i r I s i d o r e as a Member of
P a r l i a m e n t had been i n t e r e s t e d i n Army Catering f o r some time and had
p a i d s e v e r a l v i s i t s t o the Cookery School i n A l d e r s h o t .
He was joined by a c i v i l i a n c a t e r i n g e x p e r t who was appointed Chief
I n s p e c t o r of Army Catering and t o g e t h e r they s t a r t e d work on t h e i r
t a s k a t War Office on 2 March 1938.
The r e p o r t t h e y compiled, known a s t h e "Salmon Report", was accepted
by t h e Army Council and a comprehensive r e - o r g a n i s a t i o n of the Army
C a t e r i n g S e r v i c e s got under way. The progress made by 1939 included:
The appointment of a C i v i l i a n Catering Adviser t o each Home Command
The modernisation of Army Cookhouses and Dining H a l l s
The i n t r o d u c t i o n of adequate s c a l e s of modern cooking a p p a r a t u s
and equipment .
The b u i l d i n g of a modern t r a i n i n g e s t a b l i s h m e n t , now the Army
School of C a t e r i n g , St Omer B a r r a c k s , ALDERSHOT
Complete r e - o r g a n i s a t i o n of the system of t r a i n i n g cook personnel
The i n t r o d u c t i o n of tradesmen cooks with b e t t e r pay and promotion
prospects •
At the -time (1938) there was no Home Service Ration Scale. Units were
allowed 1s 3d a day for each soldier on ration strength. Major (QM) G
KIRK ACC who was the cook sergeant (known then as the master cook) of
the 1st Bn Royal Scots says that with the 1s 3d he was able to provide
4 substantial meals a day.
28
The money had t o he s p e n t , as i s the case now, e i t h e r a t the RASC Command
Supply Depot or a t t h e HAAFI. The RASC r e t a i l e d meat, hread, f l o u r , t e a ,
sugar and s a l t .
The menus were not as v a r i e d as they are t o d a y . They c o n s i s t e d mainly
of p i e s , puddings and s t e w s . The food was served by the "Family System".
With t h i s system i t was p o s s i b l e t o serve a complete B a t t a l i o n i n
20 m i n u t e s . I t s t i g disadvantages was t h a t food had t o be cooked long
before i t was s e r v e d .
The i d e a of t r a i n i n g Army Boys i n the c u l i n a r y a r t was f i r s t conceived
i n 1938. The new b u i l d i n g a t St Omer was t o incorporate the k i t c h e n s and
classrooms needed f o r t h i s t r a i n i n g . The p r e s e n t k i t c h e n classroom
number 5 i n St Omer Barracks i n f a c t was t o be the Boys k i t c h e n .
The i d e a was t o muster 15 boys each year and e v e n t u a l l y 45 i n t r a i n i n g
a t any one t i m e . I n July 1939 'the f i r s t 2 boys s t a r t e d t h e i r t r a i n i n g .
One of them SSM R MOORE, has j u s t r e t i r e d a f t e r reaching the rank of
Senior Warrant O f f i c e r i n the Corps. Before the t r a i n i n g could g e t
under way the war clouds had gathered and the scheme had t o be p u t i n t o
suspended a n i m a t i o n . The 2 boys were then posted away t o I n f a n t r y
Regiments.
The implementation of the recommendations i n t h e Salmon Report h a s
n e c e s s i t a t e d a g r e a t deal of spade work i n the 18 months p r i o r t o the
outbreak of war. I t was, however, t o pay a handsome dividend i n
September 1939 when war d i d break out.
I n each command t h e r e was a Catering Service functioning, with key
personnel ready f o r the t a s k ahead. I t was cpaickly expanded t o cover
a l l Commands a t home and the BEF i n Prance. This expansion was
accomplished by the e n t r y i n t o the service of e x p e r t s from t h e c i v i l i a n
c a t e r i n g i n d u s t r y who were commissioned i n t o the General L i s t . I n t h i s
way the nucleus was formed of what was l a t e r t o become the Army Catering
Corps.
In March 19411 under Army Order 34i "the Army Catering Corps was formed
by t r a n s f e r r i n g a l l the o f f i c e r s who were p a r t of the Catering S e r v i c e s ,
and Army Cooks from a l l Arms and S e r v i c e s , except the Household Cavalry
and Foot Guards i n t o the Corps.
The object of t h e formation of a separate Corps was twofold.
To provide f o r more e x p e r t advice and i n s t r u c t i o n i n c a t e r i n g and cooking i n the Army.
By i n c o r p o r a t i n g q u a l i f i e d cooks i n t o one Corps t o c o n t r o l t h e i r
p o s t i n g s i n order t o ensure even d i s t r i b u t i o n amongst u n i t s .
As the war p r o g r e s s e d , a l l p o t e n t i a l ACC o f f i c e r s were commissioned from
29
the ranks after pre-CCTU and CCTU training. Before an officer qualified
for a commission in the ACC, he had to he in possession of the necessaryqualifications to meet the needs of the Corps. On commissioning he was
posted as a Specialist Messing Officer hefore graduating as a catering
adviser.
Prior to 1942 all catering advisers were held on the establishment of
'Q* staffs at major lines of Communication or Formation HQs. In May
1942 they were transferred to the establishments of the Formation
RASC HQs.
On the 29th May 1943, under the authority of ACI 819 of that year, the
Corps was converted into a wholly tradesmen Corps.
Throughout the war the Corps provided an efficient catering service in
the Army both at home and on active service. Apart from their technical
roll its personnel were often called upon to act in a combatant capacity
as the Eoll of Honour in St George's Garrison Church in Aldershot will
testify.
The Corps was also called upon to work with and advise various Ministries
and other organisation on Catering problems. Some details of this work.
are:
The Ministry of Food. Cookery tests and experiments were carried out at
various times for the Ministry of Food at the ACC Training Centre.
The Ministry of Labour. Prior to the introduction of the Catering Wages
Bill, the Right Honourable Ernest Bevin MP, Minister of Labour, requested
a visit of the senior ACC Officer to discuss with him various aspects of
the Bill. The Minister subsequently visited the ACC Training Centre and
made complimentary reference in the House of Commons to the methods
employed in training catering staffs and cooks for the army.
The Ministry of Transport. This Ministry asked the Corps to assist in
the design of a still which could be used in ship's lifeboats for the
production of fresh water from salt water.
The Ministry of Information. The Corps was consulted by this Ministry
when it was making instructional films for the Ministry of Food.
US Army — Survey of Messing Facilities. A survey of messing in the US
Army based on the UK was carried out by the Corps at the invitation of
General John LEE, the American QMG. The terms of reference were to
observe messing conditions in the Field and to formulate recommendations
to be submitted concerning any corrective measures found necessary.
Also to establish a unity of purpose and closer liaison between this
procurement, issuing and using agencies, to their mutual advantages.
30
The Board of Trade - Mines. Six o f f i c e r s and 6 i n s t r u c t o r s of the Corps
were seconded t o the Board of Trade t o a s s i s t i n the development of a
system of serving miners with hot food a t the coal f a c e .
The food was cooked on the surface and conveyed t o the miners i n s p e c i a l
c o n t a i n e r s and thermos f l a s k s .
The City and Guilds of London I n s t i t u t e . A committee was formed by the
City and Guilds I n s t i t u t e t o consider the b e s t methods of grading
s e r v i c e cooks p r i o r to t h e i r demobilization and employment i n the
c i v i l i a n c a t e r i n g i n d u s t r y . The ACC was r e p r e s e n t e d on the committee.
As a r e s u l t of i t s recommendations r e s e t t l e m e n t t r a i n i n g was introduced
t o enable the cook to take h i s place in the c i v i l i a n i n d u s t r y and prepare
him f o r the City and Guilds c a t e r i n g and cookery examinations.
When the Corps was formed a DDST (Deputy D i r e c t o r of Supply and T r a n s p o r t ) (Catering) was appointed t o War O f f i c e . He was an RASC o f f i c e r
and was r e s p o n s i b l e t o the DST for t h e a c t i v i t i e s of the Corps.
The c a t e r i n g branch a t War Office was known as ST 4 a^d was p a r t of the
S and T D i r e c t o r a t e .
At t h e i r 234"th Meeting on 5 October 1945 the Establishments Committee
agreed t o e s t a b l i s h i n g the ACC as an i n t e g r a l p a r t of t h e post war army.
Subsequently, as a r e s u l t of t h e i r 254th and 263rd meeting on the
1st March and 24th March 1946 r e s p e c t i v e l y r e c r u i t m e n t and g r a n t i n g of
permanent r e g u l a r commissions proceeded under c o n d i t i o n s a p p l i c a b l e t o
c e r t a i n o t h e r arms.
In 1945 the t i t l e of DDST (Cat) was changed t o DDACC b u t the appointment
was s t i l l f i l l e d by an RASC Officer as was t h a t of Commandant of the
School a t Aldershot.
I n t h i s year Lieutenant General S i r Humfrey M CAIE, KBE CB CTO MC took
over the d u t i e s of Colonel Commandant of the Corps from General S i r
Walter K VENNIHG, KCB CMG MC who had been Colonel Commandant since i t s
formation. 1947was a milestone i n the h i s t o r y of the Corps.
In t h i s year the Corps f i r s t got as i t s head an ACC O f f i c e r who was
appointed t o ST 4 as DDACC. The o f f i c e r was Colonel R A A BYPORD, CBE MVO
who was t o c o n t r o l i t s a c t i v i t i e s - f o r the next 11 y e a r s .
An ACC o f f i c e r was given command of the t r a i n i n g b a t t a l i o n a t the ACC
T r a i n i n g C e n t r e . This o f f i c e r was Lt Col J POWLES OBE.
ACC O f f i c e r s were appointed OCs of the Cookery I n s t r u c t i o n a l C e n t r e s .
The Apprentice Training Scheme was recommenced. The f i r s t
c o n s i s t e d of t h e 15 boys who formed Venning Squad.
31
intake
I n . A p r i l 1950 t h e Deputy D i r e c t o r ACC became C o n t r o l l e r ACC. The
2 t r a n c h e s known a s ST 4 ( a ) and ST 4(h) "became ACC 1 and ACC 2
r e s p e c t i v e l y . ACC 1 was r e s p o n s i b l e f o r p o l i c y , a d m i n i s t r a t i o n ,
p l a n n i n g and t r a i n i n g while ACC 2 was r e s p o n s i b l e f o r a l l t e c h n i c a l
m a t t e r s and i n s p e c t i o n s . This i s s t i l l the broad d i v i s i o n of
r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s today.
I n 1951 the commissioning age f o r Regular Officers of the ACC was
"brought i n t o l i n e w i t h o t h e r Arms of the Service and reduced from 23 t o
21.
I t was a g r e e d t h a t t h e ACC should have i t s own D r i l l and Weapon Training
I n s t r u c t o r s , GD personnel and a d m i n i s t r a t i v e s t a f f and t h e r e b y becoming
completely s e l f c o n t a i n e d .
I n September t h e f i r s t ACC o f f i c e r was appointed Commandant of t h e ACC
T r a i n i n g C e n t r e . The o f f i c e r was Colonel C R WOLSTER-CROFT OBE who took
over from Colonel P D J GOODYEAR-PAUffi OBE an RASC o f f i c e r .
I n 1953 the employment of H o s p i t a l Catering Officers was r e g u l a r i s e d and
a c h a r t e r drawn up e s t a b l i s h i n g t h e i r r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s .
On. 9 June 1956 the Memorial Hall was o f f i c i a l l y opened a t St Omer Bks
A l d e r s h o t . I t had been b u i l t a t a cost of over £30,000.00 which had been
r a i s e d "by the p e r s o n a l e f f o r t s of many of the Corps o f f i c e r s and the
money r a i s i n g a c t i v i t i e s of the v a r i o u s branches of the Regimental
Association.
Although the 7 y e a r s between 1952 and 1958 saw l i t t l e change i n the
o r g a n i s a t i o n of the Corps, in 1958 events s t a r t e d moving r a p i d l y .
The C o n t r o l l e r was promoted B r i g a d i e r and l a t e r i n the year r e t i r e d .
was succeeded by B r i g a d i e r H SCARISBRICK CBE.
He
The Colonel Commandant r e l i n q u i s h e d h i s appointment and was succeeded by
B r i g a d i e r R A A BYFORD CBE MTO.
The S e l f Service System of messing was o f f i c i a l l y adopted by t h e Army.
The Corps gained 2 more Lieutenant Colonel appointments.
ACI 375 of 1958 (which has since been superseded by ACI 450 of i960)
i n t r o d u c e d the new o t h e r rank s t r u c t u r e t o the Corps.
I n 1959 a new Commandant was appointed t o t h e ACC T r a i n i n g C e n t r e .
Colonel R R OWENS OBE took over from Colonel A PECK who had commanded
the T r a i n i n g Centre since Colonel WOLSTEN-CROFT's r e t i r e m e n t i n 1955-
32
In 1960, to alleviate anticipated recruiting difficulties, authority was
given for the expansion of the Apprentice Chef Company into a Regiment.
In 18 months this new Regiment consisting of an Apprentice Company and a
Junior Tradesman Company had more than trebled its strength and reached
its ceiling of 450 trainees.
Finally in 1961 all Home Commands were brought onto the Common Inter
Service Ration Scale, which brought Army Feeding at home into line with
the other services. These are the dry facts of the evolution of the
Army Catering Corps. In themselves they mean little. The following,
which is not meant to be comprehensive, deals with the more human side
of the Corps short history.
The ACC has fed the British Army in every climate throughout the world;
The Eighth Army in the deserts of North Africa; the Fifth Army in the
mountains of Italy; The Fourteenth Army in the Burmese Jungles and the
Security Forces in the Malayan Jungles; the Commonwealth Brigade in the
arctic conditions of the Korsan winter; the Hydrogen bomb mission in the
Christmas Islands.
The ACC has fed Royalty in many parts of the world; Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth, The Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Princess Margaret, Princess
Alexandra and the Duke of Gloucester. At HRH Princess Margaret's wedding
2 of the 12 official wedding cakes were made by Instructors at the Army
School of Catering - SQMSI SMITH, an ex-apprentice and Mr CASHMORE, a
civilian instructor.'
The Corps has provided cooks for special employment.
In 1959 an ACC cook was employed on the catering staff of the Royal Yacht
"Britannia" when HRH The Duke of Edinburgh toured the Far East and South
Pacific Islands.
One ACC cook accompanied the Fuchs expedition to the Antartic in the 1958
Geophysical Tear.
The Army Catering Corps can boast no Victoria Crosses but it has its fair
share of other decorations. No less than one quarter of the Mention in
Despatches, awarded by Field Marshall Montgomery in his desert campaign,
went to ACC other ranks.
The Corps has done well in the competitive sporting field.
Three times it has succeeded in gaining the coveted team medal at the
Nijmegen Marches - in 1958 the BAOR team, under Colonel R R OWENS OBE
and Major HUNTER ACC and in i960 and I96I the Junior Tradesmen's Regiment.
Although the Corps has not won the Army Soccer Cup 2 of its teams won
their way through to the semi finals in 1954. One of them narrowly lost
the final.
33
The Junior Tradesmen's Regiment won both the Army Junior Rugby Foothall
and Canoeing Championships in I960.1
In the Aldershot Junior Officer Efficiency Tests the Junior Officers of
the Corps have done extremely well winning the shield, against very
strong opposition, including the Airborne Forces, 5 times since 1953.
The purely technical ahility of the Corps is reflected in its Hotel
Olympia, Salon Culinaire successes.
1952
1954
1956
1958
i960
1962
35
52
36
36
59
46
awards, 4 challenge trophies, 3 gold medals
awards, 6 challenge trophies, 6 gold medals
awards, 6 challenge trophies, 4 gold medals
awards, 8 challenge trophies, 7 gold medals
awards, 8 challenge trophies, 5 gold medals
awards, 12 challenge trophies, 7 gold medals
34
Chapter 8
Three of the 5 barracks i n Aldershot t h a t a r e , or have been, occupied
"by the Army Catering Corps are named a f t e r the "battles fought and won
"by John C h u r c h i l l , Duke of Marlborough, in the e a r l y 18th c e n t u r y . They
are Blenheim, Ramillies and Oudenarde, which t o g e t h e r with Malplaquet
and Tournai (2 more Marlborough b a t t l e s ) comprise the a r e a of the
Aldershot g a r r i s o n known as Marlborough l i n e s . A "brief o u t l i n e of t h i s
famous General and h i s b a t t l e s appear below. They are p a r t of our
m i l i t a r y h e r i t a g e and should be known t o a l l members of the Army Catering
Corps.
Marlborough was born when Oliver Cromwell was t h e P r o t e c t o r of England
the year a f t e r Charles I was beheaded a t Tower H i l l . He l i v e d through
5 successive r e i g n s , seeing a l l t h e i r p o l i t i c a l r a m i f i c a t i o n s . Although
from 1705 onwards he was a s i c k man he remained e n e r g e t i c , brave, even
tempered, charming and ambitious. He was a family man and although not
r i c h was money conscious.
He was a forerunner of the modern concept of war. Like Montgomery he
pursued the concept of balance, the maintenance of aim and the arm of
manoeuvre on the b a t t l e f i e l d . He r e a l i s e d the importance of concent r a t i o n of f i r e , of a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , of supply and the t r a i n i n g of men.
He never forgot t h a t war was a c o n t i n u a t i o n of the n a t i o n a l p o l i c y and
w h i l s t t a c t i c a l l y conducting operations always bore i n mind the o v e r l a y i n g s t r a t e g y . He never fought a b a t t l e he did not win. He never
beseiged a town he did not t a k e .
The B a t t l e of Blenheim was fought on the Danube i n August 1704- I t was
a s p l e n d i d example of offensive a c t i o n . The French, under Marshals
T a l l a r d and Marsin, and the E l e c t o r of Bavaria, were deployed i n a s t r o n g
p o s i t i o n and possessed a s t r o n g a r t i l l e r y s u p e r i o r i t y . They did n o t
t h i n k t h a t Marlborough would a t t a c k .
Ife-rlborough, with Prince Eugene the commander of the Bavarian Army made
a p e r s o n a l reconnaissance of the future b a t t l e — f i e l d . He saw t h e main
French defences were centred around the v i l l a g e of Blenheim, well away
from the stream o b s t a c l e s which were surrounded by marshy ground. The
French Cavalry, i n defiance of the p r i n c i p l e of c o n c e n t r a t i o n , were
deployed along the l i n e of the French defences. Marlborough decided t o
take the i n i t i a t i v e . With h i s i n f a n t r y he a t t a c k e d the v i l l a g e of
Blenheim, keeping h i s cavalry under h i s p e r s o n a l command. At the
c r i t i c a l moment h i s cavalry joined the a t t a c k achieving a breakthrough
and the r o u t e of the French Army.
35
In t h i s b a t t l e the French lost 38,000 dead and 2,000 prisoners amongst
whom was Marshall Tallard. The a l l i e s lost about 11,000.
The b a t t l e of Ramillies was fought in Flanders in May 1706. I t was an
example of the encounter t a t t l e and the result of a quick personal
reconnaissance by Marlborough. The French army was immobile because i t s
l e f t flank rested on marshy ground. I t was in a concave formation with
i t s cavalry held on the high ground supported by infantry.
Marlborough feinted to the French left on the marsh and followed up with
a strong attack on the French centre and right. I t was successful and
immediately exploited by the British Cavalry.
The French t r i e d to reorganise but due to the concave formation the
French cavalry were soon hopelessly mixed up with the baggage t r a i n .
Marlborough continued to exploit his advantage and only the f a l l of
darkness prevented the complete destruction of the French Army. As i t
was i t suffered a disastrous defeat with 5,500 killed or wounded while
6,000 were taken prisoner together with 50 guns. The a l l i e s lost less
than 3,000.
The Battle of Oudenarde was fought in Flanders in July 1708. The French
were beseiging the town of Oudenarde. On the advance of the a l l i e s they
raised -fche seige and advanced to meet them. They were handicapped in
ensuing b a t t l e by having 2 commanding Generals - The Hoyal Duke of
Burgundy and Marshall Vendome. I t was fought in 3 phases:
Phase 1 . Lord Cadogen crossed the River Scheldt with the British
advance guard and attacked the French at Eyne.
Phase 2. The French counter attack was contained on the reorganisation;
the French wavered (duel commanderstt) and gave away t h e i r intentions.
Phase 3 . A left hook by the cavalry on the French right and the French
scattered.
Surprise was achieved by a quick a l l i e d concentration, good quick bridging
of the River Scheldt, 7 pontoon and 2 stone bridges at Oudenarde,
offensive action, concentration and the high morale of the a l l i e d troops.
In the b a t t l e it' is interesting to note that not the least of the factors
contributing to high morale was that the British marched with 8 day's
supply of bread and lightened packs.
Again the French Army was t o t a l l y defeated with 3,000 k i l l e d , 7,000 taken
prisoner and 10 guns captured. The a l l i e s lost 2,000.
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St Omer Barracks which i s the Main Barracks of the Army Catering Corps
Training Cente i s named a f t e r a town of French Flanders 26 miles s o u t h e a s t of C a l a i s . I t l i e s near the chalf edge of Arton and a t the Southern
end of the Aa Marshes, which were drained i n the 18th c e n t u r y . These
reclaimed lands are now e x t e n s i v e l y farmed and the town of St Omer a c t s
as t h e i r market.
Although no g r e a t b a t t l e s were ever fought a t St Omer i t was the Headq u a r t e r s of the B r i t i s h Expeditionery Force during World War I from
October 1914 u n t i l November 1915 a n d i s t h e r e f o r e c l o s e l y a s s o c i a t e d
with the B a t t l e s of Mons i n 1914.
E a r l y i n the October of 1914 "the p o s i t i o n on the Aisne appeared t o the
B r i t i s h Army Commander, S i r John French, t o warrant a withdrawal of the
B r i t i s h Forces t o support the Northern flank of the a l l i e s . All t h e
withdrawing forces assembled a t St Omer, and then the 3 Corps advanced
eastward, 2nd Army Corps t o La Bassee, 3rd Army Corps t o Armentieres and
4th Army Corps t o Ypres t o form the Ypres - Armentieres b a t t l e l i n e .
F i e l d Marshall Lord Roberts, E a r l of Kandahar and Waterford, who i n 1858
was awarded the VC a t Khudaganj i n I n d i a , died a t St Omer on the 14th
November 1914, w h i l s t v i s i t i n g troops t h e r e .
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ALEXIS SOYER'S RECIPES
Hospital Recipes
Beef Tea — Recipes for 6 pints
Cut 3 lb of beef into pieces each the size of a walnut, and chop up the
bones if any. Put into a convenient sized kettle with half a pound of
mixed vegetables, such as onions, leeks, celery, etc, 1 oz of.salt, a
little pepper, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2 oz butter and half a pint of water,
set on a sharp fire for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally with a
spoon till it forms a rather thick gravy at the bottom, but not brown,
then add 7 pints of hot or cold water, hot is best, when boiling let it
simmer gently for an hour, skim off all the fat, strain through a sieve
and serve.
Essence of Beef Tea for Camp Hospitals
(Quarter pound tin cases of Essence)
If in winter set it near the fire to melt, pour contents into a stew-pan,
and 12 times the case full of water over it, hot or cold, add to it
3 slices of onions, a sprig or 2 of parsley, a leaf of celery if handy,
one teaspoon of salt, one of sugar, pass through a colander and serve.
If required stronger 8 cases of water will do decreasing the seasoning in
proportion. In case you have no vegetables salt alone will do.
Mutton and Veal Tea
Mutton and veal will make a good tea by proceeding just as above. The
addition of a little aromatic herbs is always desirable. If no fresh
vegetables use 2 oz of mixed preserved vegetables to either of the above
recipes.
Batter Pudding
Break 2 fresh eggs into a basin, beat them well, add 1-J- tablespoonfuls of
flour, which beat up with a fork until no lumps remain, add a gill of
milk, a teaspoonful of salt, butter a tea cup or basin, pour in the
mixture, put some water in a stewpan enough to immerge half way up to
the cup or basin- in water, when it boils put in your cup or basin and
boil for 10 minutes or until your pudding is well set, pass a knife to
loosen it, turn out onto a plate, pour pounded sugar and a pat of fresh
butter over it and serve with a little lemon, cinnamon, or a drop of any
essence may be introduced. A little light melted butter, sherry and
sugar may be poured over, and if required delicate, add a little less
flour. It may be served plain.
Toast and Water
Cut a piece of crusty bread, about 4 oz in weight, place it upon a toasting fork, and hold it about 6 inches from the fire, turn it often until
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of a light yellow colour then place it nearer the fire, and when of a
brown chocolate colour put it in a jug and pour over 3 pts, of boiling
water, cover the jug until cold, then strain it into another jug and
it is ready. Hever leave your toast in it, as in summer it will
ferment in a short time.
Soyers Plain Lemonade
Thinly peel the third part of a lemon, which put in a basin with
2 tablespoons of sugar, roll the lemons to soften them, cut them each
in 2 and press out the juice into a colander so that all the juice is
extracted, triturate the sugar, juice and peel together for a few
minutes. With a spoon so as to form a syrup and extract the aroma
from the peel and the dissolved citric acid, mix all well together,
pour on 50 pts of cold water, stir well together, it is then ready.
A little ice in summer is a great addition.
How to soak, and plain boil the rations of Salt Meat
To each pound of meat allow -g- pt of water or a pint if handy, do not let
the pieces weigh more than 2 or 4 lb each. Let them soak about 8 hours
or all night if possible. Wash each piece with your hand to extract as
much salt as possible, it is then ready for cooking. If less time is
allowed cut the pieces smaller or parboil the meat for 20 minutes in the
above quantity of water which throw off and add more.
Salt meat for 25 men
Put 25 lb of meat in a couldron after having been well soaked then fill
the couldron with water, then boil gently if beef 3 hours, if pork
2 hours. Half rations of pork and beef mixed are very desirable and
together with the following dumplings are a great improvement. Put to
every pound of flour 4 ozs of fat or suet, roll your paste to -g" thickness cut into pieces and boil with meat.
Carrots, turnips, parsnips and plain boiled rice in bags cooked and
served with the beef are very nice. Peeled potatoes boiled in a net may
also be added. With the pork peas alone must be boiled and must be
placed in the couldron in loose bags.
Salt Pork with Mashed Peas for 100 men
Put in 2 stoves 50 lb of pork each. Divide 24 lb of peas in 4 pudding
bags, tied loosely, putting them to boil at the same time as your pork;
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l e t a l l boil gently t i l l done, about 2 hours. Tate out the pudding and
peas and put the whole of the meat in one oouldron, remove the liquor
from the other pan turning back the peas in i t , add 2 teaspoonfuls of
pepper, 1 lb of fat and with a wooden spatula mash the peas, and serve
both. The addition of -g- lb of flour and 2 quarts of liquor boiled
10 minutes makes a great improvement. Six sliced onions fried and
added makes i t very delicate.
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Graphics Dept STW HQ ACC TC Dec 1978
82377/65