One of my current research projects is the history of Australian Army rations, food, cooking and catering, mainly as a result of "work in progress" book on the history of feeding the Oz soldier since colonial times, being written for the Army History Unit.
Research has put me in contact with a number of interesting, helpful and informative people who have been enthusiastic supporters of and contributors to my project. Late last year one of these contacts, a retired Warrant Officer Cook RAN, sent me an e-mail telling me that he had recently come across a Second World War vintage tinned ration pack that he had inherited from his late uncle and which he believed had been issued to his uncle at Tobruk. When my friend asked if I would be interested in having the item I immediately said ‘Yes’ and asked how much. Not surprisingly, my friend said ‘Nothing’ and even paid for registered postage from Tasmania.
My friend’s description of the tin was somewhat ‘vague’, despite several email inquiries about dimensions so in the end I just had to be patient (while hoping that I was soon to be the proud recipient of an unopened O2 ration). In the end, the item that arrived is illustrated below.
https://victoriancollections.net.au/ite ... 0308606696
Figure 1
This is an AMF 1943 Emergency Ration. It is not the item in my collection as I am unable to post images from my PC.
The 1942 campaign in New Guinea had been a steep learning curve for the AMF in terms of feeding front-line troops. Despite a number of (often legitimate) complaints, the army actually went to great lengths to ensure that its men, even those in the front line, received properly cooked hot meals, fruit, juices and freshly baked bread products as often as possible. This wasn’t always possible of course and in this situation the army was forced to fall back on the old staples of bully beef, dog biscuits, cheese, jam and tea. The problems presented by this solution included lack of nutritional balance; monotony; and bulk. The last issue was not a minor one, considering the nature of the terrain the New Guinea was fought over and the normal loads carried by soldiers.
It was this problem of providing rations that were palatable, relatively easy to disburse, and easy to carry and use by soldiers who could not be provided with proper cooked meals that spurred an intense research and development process in Australia from early 1942.
One of the results of this was the AMF 1943 Emergency Ration. This was the result of a three-way project between the AMF, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR – the forerunner of the CSIRO) and MacRobertson's Steam Confectionery Works (a famous Australian confectionery company founded in 1880). MacRobertson's in fact received the original contract for production and supply of the ration, with some items sub-crontacted out. After extensive operational trials in Northern Australia in 1942 and early 1943, the Emergency ration began to be issued to troops in New Guinea from about May 1943.
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-foo ... e-1950.htm
Figure 2
Again, not from my collection. You'll have to scroll down through a heap of bumf before you get to the image of the rear of the emergency ration.
As can be seen from Figure 1 and 2, the Emergency Ration was packed in a flat, green painted metal tin, which measured 10.7mm x 14.5mm x 2mm. The ration was meant to be carried in a shirt pocket and had rounded edges to prevent fabric damage. The lid was fitted with a ring pull which opened the tin similarly to a contemporary sardine tin. Instructions on opening were printed on the top of the tin, while instructions on when to use the ration and the requirement to immediately report the use were printed on the base. It appears that in the Second World War the troops, at least in the AMF, were treated as more grown up than their First World War counterparts—no nonsense apparently about ‘iron rations’ not to be touched without an officer’s order!
Figure 3
I'm unable to post Figure 3 as, again, I can't post from my PC. You can go here - https://search.informit.com.au/document ... res=IELAPA - and pay A$4:00 for the original article, which has Figure 3 in it. Not touting for the money (I don't get anything, the bastard copyright abusers who buy journals and then make people pay for reading the articles are the culprits - sorry.)
The ration consisted of:
• 2 x chocolate bars
• 7 x caramel sweets (shown below the chocolate bar at the top
• 2 x prune blocks
• 2 x fruit and nut block
• 4 x sugar tablets
• 4 tea tablets
• 6 x salt tablets
Unfortunately, the only image of the inside layout of the packaging that I could locate is copyrighted. However, with a little computer magic, I was able to create the line drawing shown at Figure 3. The tea tablets (not shown) were packed in the space in the left hand side of the tin and the salt tablets (not shown) were packed in the right hand side.
Records indicate that the 1943 Emergency Ration was quite popular with consumers, the only major complaint being that after a time the ration became ‘too sweet’, although this was usually addressed by mixing this ration with the O2 Field Ration as well as the bully beef and dog bikkies fall back.
Along with the O2 Field Ration, the AMF 1943 Emergency Ration was a major advance in ‘combat feeding’ and a fully Australian effort. As a collectable, the Emergency Ration in unopened condition appears to be incredibly rare; a comprehensive search of online militaria outlets has not turned up a single one. Opened tins do occasionally pop up for sale, however, the lowest priced example I have located was on sale for $50:00 (which I certainly wouldn’t consider paying for an empty tin!).
To say that I am happy to have an original, unopened AMF 1943 Emergency Ration in my collection would be a magnificent understatement.
Eat hearty one and all.
Graham W
Australian Army 1943 Emergency Ration
Re: Australian Army 1943 Emergency Ration
Very informative, are there any accounts of serviceman who have eaten out of one of these type of emergency ration tins?