MREInfo.com

Thanks for replies everyone! relatives of mine who served in WW2 have told me that with the 5-in-1 and 10-in-1 rations, it was very rare for them to get every ration component together as it was intended to be together, and that some of the German rations were much better tasting.

My father was in WW2, in the South pacific, mostly on New Guinea.
He said they ran out of supplies for quite awhile, and had to eat Japanese rations.
Mostly, it was the 'Hold your nose and choke it down' variety...
He did say the Saki wine was pretty good, though!
He also got malaria and Polio there, and spent the rest of the war in Australia.

Also found this reference...

Gruppepackung (Squad Pack)

The squad pack was designed to feed ten men for one day and was most often issued to motorised troops. It was normally packaged in two small crates. Its components comprised:

• Bohnenkaffee – a resealable tin containing two cello-packs of ground coffee and two cello-packs of sugar – two tins issued per ration
• Eintopf – a tin containing 500 grams of meat and vegetable stew – two tins issued per ration
• Eipulver – a tin containing 250 grams of dehydrated eggs – two tins issued per ration
• Fleischextrakt – a resealable tin containing five 30-gram cubes of bouillon type soup base cubes (Maggi-brand) – two tins issued per ration
• Früchtebrot – a tin containing 500 grams of a brown-bread – whole wheat and rye with molasses as sweetener, with raisins added – two tins issued per ration
• Hafermehl, Zucker und Frucht – a resealable tin containing two cello-packs of oatmeal, one cello-pack of raisins, one cello-pack of sugar and one cello-pack of salt for oatmeal preparation – two tins issued per ration
• Hartzweiback – a resealable tin containing five standard 150 gram cello-packs – two tins issued per ration
• Kondensmilch – a tin containing 500 grams of condensed milk – two tins issued per ration
• Kondessuppe "Tomate" – a tin containing 500 grams of condensed tomato soup – two tins issued per ration
• Leberwurst – a tin containing 250 grams of liver loaf – two tins issued per ration
• Margarine – a tin containing 250 grams of margarine – four tins issued per ration
• Pflanzenöle – a tin containing 100 grams of cooking oil – two tins issued per ration
• Rinder Fleischkonserve – a tin containing 500 grams of beef with gravy – two tins issued per ration
• Schokolade – a resealable tin containing five 50-gram chocolate bars – four tins issued per ration
• Wiener Würstchen – a tin containing 250 grams of Vienna sausage – four tins issued per ration

dirtbag wrote:Also found this reference...

Wow - great! Where?

Germans have a "stressed" relation to their own past, so I it´s "difficult" to find about our selfs over here

dirtbag wrote: • Hartzweiback – a resealable tin containing five standard 150 gram cello-packs – two tins issued per ration
• Kondessuppe "Tomate" – a tin containing 500 grams of condensed tomato soup – two tins issued per ration

Here we go - they mention "Kondenssuppe"

Did you copy/paste it from somewhere? They say "Hartzweiback" but it should read "Zwieback" not "Zweiback"

Hi Olli,
I found it here:

http://wesworld.jk-clan.de/print.php?th ... f142981dc3

I just did a google search for 'german ww2 rations'

Give this a look, also.

http://forum.axishistory.com/index.php

I do recall laughing_man mentioned that the Japanese repro rations they offer are pretty inaccurate compared to what was actually used.

Another interesting site...
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Sol ... legung.htm

Ja, the "Lexikon der Wehrmacht" is a great source of information. I realy like the picture of the mobile field kitchen ("goulash howitzer" )

They say, exacpt for the surrounded troops in Stalingrad and others in a siege, never a German soldier had to die from hunger due to the feeding system.

After reading some of these old reports, it seems that Rations, as we know them, were really rarely issued.
Iron Rations, full and half, were issued, but the normal feeding was a hot meal (usually soup or stew) at midday, and bread/Lard/butter, cheese and sausage for breakfast and supper.
Plus, whatever they could scrounge locally.
They indeed ate pretty good, unlike the people of the occupied country's, who were on a starvation diet.
The Goulash Cannon was a treasure, then and now!

I hate to throw cold water on everyone, but the "Gruppepackung" (Squad Pack) referenced above is a fantasy item. It comes from an Alternate Reality gaming site called Wesworld.

As far as I am aware the only "group ration" used by the Wehrmacht was the "Gebirgssonderkost" (Special Mountain Ration), designed to feed four men for one day or one man for four days.

There was also a "Special Allowance for Tank Troops" that was shared by two men, but it wasn't a complete ration; it was more like a meal supplement.