Chapter 5: Rations for Mediterranean Troops
Feeding the combat soldier was no simple task, particularly when he came from a country enjoying a high standard of living and campaigned in foreign countries too devastated or too poor to support their own populations adequately, let alone feed an invading army. The daily deliveries and issues of food to troops in the Mediterranean theater provide a record of planning and experimentation, calculation, and frustration. The normal time lag between order and shipment demanded that requirements—often based on tactical plans which were tentative at best—be estimated far in advance of consumption dates. For transportation, Mediterranean quartermasters were dependent on agencies charged with world-wide responsibilities, which inevitably made decisions incomprehensible to those at the overseas operating level. Packaging, a task which seems simple to the uninitiated, required constant attention if automatic food deliveries were to be made promptly each day. These were only a few of the factors which affected Quartermaster activities in the distribution of Class I supply.
The kind of food consumed by the American soldier depended more on his location at any given moment than on any other factor. As a general rule, if the man was in a position to be fed from the kitchen of his own unit he could at least expect to receive the B ration composed of nonperishable meats and vegetables, and bearing a resemblance to the menu served to garrison troops at home. Moreover, Quartermasters in the Mediterranean area made every effort to exploit whatever refrigerated facilities and local agricultural resources were available in the hope of supplying unit messes with fresh meat, fruits and vegetables, and dairy products. In many combat situations, the quartermaster had no choice but to provide the individual soldier with packaged operational rations.
The Packaged Rations for Combat
The development of packaged rations for combat will probably stand as a landmark in the history of food preparation for military forces as well as remain a favorite subject of conversation among veterans of World War II.1 The QMC had long been interested in developing emergency rations, but funds for research and development were lacking and progress was desultory. Late in the 1930s, research and development activities were accelerated and by the time of
TORCH, the Office of The Quartermaster General had standardized three types of packaged combat rations.
The first type was the D ration, consisting of three 4-ounce chocolate bars, artificially flavored and fortified with sucrose, skimmed milk, cacao fat, and raw oatmeal flour. Containing only 1,800 calories, the D ration, reminiscent of the “Iron” ration of World War I, could only be considered for use in extreme emergencies or as a supplement to a more nourishing field ration.
The C ration—originally conceived as a “balanced meal in a can”—was composed of six 12-ounce cans, three of which were meat units and three bread units. It also had such complementary items as sugar, soluble coffee, and candy. The National Research Council considered the ration’s 3,000 calories adequate for a moderately active man. Despite efforts to introduce a greater variety, meat and beans, meat and vegetable hash, and meat and vegetable stew constituted the major C ration components throughout World War II.
The need for a ration more nourishing than the D and more compact than the C led to the development of the K ration, which was packaged in three rectangular boxes each small enough to fit into a pocket of the paratrooper’s uniform. Each box held the constituents of a separate meal, including biscuits and crackers, dextrose tablets, a can of meat, meat and egg, or processed cheese, plus a stick of chewing gum and four cigarettes. Supplementary items distributed as part of the ration included soluble coffee, concentrated bouillon, a 2-ounce bar of D ration, a fruit bar, lemon juice powder, and sugar tablets. The whole ration contained from 3,100 to 3,400 calories and, because of its convenient dimensions and efficient protective wrapping, was described as “a triumph of the packager’s art.”2
In addition to the D, C, and K rations, the OQMG made progress by late 1942 toward the development of a ration specially packed for small isolated units, such as might engage in desert or mountain fighting. Designed to feed five men for one day, the so-called 5-in-1 ration permitted the preparation of warm meals by troops with limited cooking experience and even more limited kitchen facilities. For variety, three separate menus were prepared, each containing the breakfast, dinner, and supper meals. Illustrating the 5-in-1’s substantial contents, one of the menus provided a breakfast of dehydrated tomato juice cocktail, whole wheat cereal, canned bacon, soluble coffee, sugar, and canned milk; a dinner of dehydrated bean soup, canned roast beef, dehydrated potatoes, canned peas, evaporated pears, hard candy, lemon juice crystals, and sugar; and a supper which included meat and vegetable stew, vanilla pudding powder, soluble coffee, sugar, and canned milk. A supply of salt, biscuits, dehydrated fruit spread, and a processed substitute for butter accompanied all cased rations. The nutritive value ranged from 3,400 to 4,100 calories, and the gross weight of the 5-in-1, packed in a solid fiber carton, was almost thirty pounds.3
In varying quantities every one of these combat rations moved across nine TORCH beaches. The soldiers also ate these rations in Tunisia. Logistical difficulties held up the balanced B ration,
so the C ration became the basic unit of subsistence. One of the C’s most conspicuous advantages over the other packaged rations was the fact that its meat unit could be heated in and consumed from its own container. This saved mess gear cleaning—a drain on precious water in dry Tunisia, yet otherwise necessary for sanitation. But littering the roadsides with empty, shiny tins guided enemy aircraft along the routes and bivouacs of American convoys.
Out of North Africa came many recommendations for improving the C ration. The meat and vegetable hash menu was not well received. The particles of meat were too small; troops preferred chunks of meat that could be chewed. Others proposed to substitute a fruit bar for one of the biscuits, to design a new top to prevent meat juices from spilling on hands or clothes, and to include accessories like chocolate, soap, cigarettes, and toilet paper. Because the C ration was flavorless when cold, soldiers hoped that canned heat could be issued as in the British and German Armies.4
From the health standpoint the North African campaign demonstrated the drawbacks of making the C ration a steady diet. After three days of continuous consumption, it became unpalatable. One commander reported that his men suffered spells of nausea and digestive disturbances after three or four days. Distressed by the extent of these disorders and hoping to obviate their recurrence in the next battle, the 1st Division quartermaster cached away as many B rations as possible in the vehicles and trailers which would otherwise have been shipped to Sicily empty. The wisdom of this move, he believed, was borne out by the disappearance of stomach ailments.5
By far the most popular combat ration in North Africa was the 5-in-1, which corresponded to the components of the B ration. It was especially appreciated by the Americans who fought under British command in Tunisia, and at first ate British food. Feeding the troops with the British Compo (Composite Pack) ration—packaged in 65-pound boxes and containing enough food for fourteen men—was technically very easy, since it was a balanced ration. But the absence of coffee from the Com-po and the inclusion of such dishes as mutton stew and kidney pie was repulsive to American tastes. The roast beef, meat balls and spaghetti, canned bacon, and corned beef of the 5-in-1 were more to the American soldier’s liking. The dehydrated elements of the 5-in-1 aroused a mixed reaction among the troops. White and sweet potatoes, onions, soups, and milk of the dehydrated family were well received, but cabbage flakes and tomato juice cocktail were not. Apricot spread and a nonperishable substitute for butter known as Carter’s Spread were not liked. Nevertheless, once this ration arrived at the front, the concept of a small-group balanced ration was vindicated. Indeed, so well received was the 5-in-1—often called the U or unit ration—that numerous recommendations came in from the ETO and
NATOUSA for its conversion into a larger unit. Advocates of this change suggested that the five-man feeding unit was too small and that too many separate boxes had to be issued to larger groups.6 Quartermasters debated for six months over the relative merits of a 10-in-1 versus a 12-in-1, the latter designed to feed the basic infantry squad for one day.7 The final decision favored the 10-in-1 after Army Ground Forces determined that 40 pounds was the maximum load that one man could conveniently handle when carrying the package across a beach, unloading it from a ship or vehicle, or dropping it from an airplane. As designed in August 1943, the new 10-in-1 was packed into a well-marked, single container, holding a K ration for the noon meal, and two overpacked 5-in-1’s for the morning and evening meals. The 10-in-1’s nutritive value averaged 3,668 calories.8
By December 1943, when the Italian campaign was three months old, the 10-in-1 packed in five menus was issued along with other operational rations. At that time medical officers made a number of significant observations as to the nutritional effect of the various packaged rations on the soldier. They noted that combat rations became unpalatable if consumed for long periods of time and that they were all responsible for minor but uncomfortable stomach disorders. Of still more importance was the increasing evidence that the soldier’s caloric intake was not enough to replace the energies expended in fighting. This deficiency was partly attributed to the widespread distaste for the biscuits, malted dextrose tablets, and synthetic lemon crystals found in the C and K rations. But even if all these rations were consumed, surgeons were skeptical of their adequacy as nourishment for troops in combat or for men performing moderate work in cold weather.
One medical officer challenged the generally accepted caloric values of the four main types of field rations. He reported to the Fifth Army surgeon that the daily deficiency of troops subsisting on the C or K ration ranged from 400 to 1,800 calories a day depending on the coldness of the weather and the type of physical exertion. Reports from combat soldiers verified these dietary deficiencies. Men lost weight and surgeons reported an increasing incidence of bodily exhaustion. Medical officers observed a decrease in body fat as well as a paleness of muscle substance among wounded patients requiring surgery. Vitamin deficiencies were manifested in skin lesions, lassitude, and neuritis.
Some quartermasters did not agree with this medical survey. One reply to a questionnaire on the 10-in-1 ration called attention to discrepancies between the mathematical calculations of calories by the National Research Council and the Fifth Army surgeon. Nevertheless, the OQMG Research and Development Branch continued its efforts to improve
the rations which had been developed by the end of 1943. It altered the C ration, changing the type of stew and biscuits offered, eliminating the hash, and adding five new meat components. Caramels replaced the malted milk and dextrose tablets in the K ration. A few officers favored a return to the 5-in-1, largely because of the unpopularity of the K ration provided as a noon meal in the 10-in-1. While OQMG took remedial action to drop the K ration, to curtail excessive use of cold beverages, and to increase the caloric values to 3,893, the modified 10-in-1 of March 1944 did not appear in the Mediterranean theater in time to eliminate criticism before the end of the war.9
If the diet of the fighting man was proving deficient, theater quartermasters could not simply wait for relief from the laboratories in the United States. In January 1944 the 3rd Battalion, 135th Infantry, 34th Division, cooperated with Sullivan in a combat feeding experiment. During the month-long test, the veteran 3rd Battalion was in action near Cassino. To determine the best possible menu for troops beyond the reach of bulk rations and how to organize the battalion’s supply system for its preparation and issue, Sullivan authorized the 3rd Battalion to draw a fifteen-day supply of special rations.
Essentially, the project called for the establishment of a battalion bakery by borrowing equipment and men from the company kitchens. Bakers made such pastries as fruit turnovers, doughnuts, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and chocolate cakes. At the same time each company kitchen prepared sandwiches of hamburgers, ham, egg, cheese, and jam, and arranged for packing and delivering sandwiches, pastries, and fruit juices to the unit’s fighters. As the experiment continued, these additional servings were sent forward by mule or jeep, depending on the terrain, on the days when C’s constituted the basic ration. Because supplies of lard and other baking ingredients were inadequate the experiment could not be put into general practice, but its popularity was reaffirmed the next winter, when a similar program was launched among the regiments of the 10th Mountain Division.
For similar reasons, Sullivan authorized extra issues of supplementary foods to combat troops when they moved out of the line and into rest areas. In a further attempt to make the C and K rations more palatable and to provide more hot beverages in cold weather, commanders demanded and quartermasters provided extra allowances of coffee, canned milk, and sugar during both winters in Italy. When these favorites were unavailable, the fortified chocolate bar—generally an unpopular food—was distributed as a nutritive supplement.10
In the south of France, despite an extremely mobile situation, the troops consumed a surprisingly large proportion of B rations. Even in the early phases, operational rations comprised less than 30 percent of all issues. About 10 percent of all rations were 10-in-1’s, a proportion based on availability rather than preference. This was by far the most popular of the hard rations. Earlier Mediterranean experience was reversed in that the K ration (with D ration supplement) was preferred to the C, possibly because there was a considerable airborne component among DRAGOON troops. No 5-in-1 rations were issued. Consumption of hard rations dropped below 20 percent in October 1944, as the war of movement came to an end.11
Kitchen-Prepared Rations
While packaged combat rations served as the main bill of fare during the first fortnight in Casablanca and Oran, unit kitchens of Western and Center Task Forces began to shift to garrison-type foods shortly before Thanksgiving Day, 26 November 1942. Mountains of B ration components had been accumulating in these two port cities since the arrival of the D plus 3 convoys, but task force quartermasters had had considerable difficulty in organizing their Class I depots. Across North Africa, 100,000 men were waiting for a balanced B ration. At Oran, McNamara’s labor situation hobbled depot operations. He was forced to divide his depot area into two compartments. Flour, dried foodstuffs, and any food which was not in sealed cans or containers were put into a restricted area. Because of U.S. sanitary codes, native food handlers worked only among the cased items. Meanwhile, within the restricted enclosures, Quartermaster service troops failed to appreciate any humor in a job which found them sorting cans devoid of paper labels; such confusion further delayed the balancing of B rations.
In planning TORCH, task force quartermasters had been careful not to ask for perishable or frozen foods that required refrigerated storage at an early date. It was known prior to the landings that cold storage facilities existed, but no one knew their condition or capacity. Fortunately, McNamara had made an early reconnaissance of the Oran plant. At the outset he was almost forced to commandeer the building from its French owners. On D plus 13 an unannounced refrigerator ship arrived with a cargo of frozen beef, pork, legs of lamb, and chilled bacon and hams. A second vessel moved into the harbor with more meat and tons of frozen turkeys, but the refrigerated warehouses could not handle this volume of supplies. Determined not to reconsign the cargoes back to the United States, McNamara issued frozen turkey from shipside.
By Christmas Day 1942, problems of local food procurement and storage were being resolved. Task Force quartermasters were moving toward Tunisia leaving base section colleagues with the task of preparing to-day menus and issue charts for the B ration, augmented by a host of perishables. By March 1943, through use of menus based on circulars
from Middleswart’s QM Section, SOS, all troops in North Africa were issued the B ration except those in the most forward areas.12
The to-day menu of B rations—the basic cycle which permitted a variety of meals—consisted of approximately too separate foodstuffs, plus a few condiments. When all the components were available in the amounts and proportions required by the to-day cycle, the B ration was nutritionally balanced. But “balances” were easier to chart than to issue. Capt. William F. Pounder, surveying the ration breakdown system for General Gregory, offered one explanation for the difficulties when he wrote that “this ration is not originally shipped on the convoys as a balanced ration.” 13
Other difficulties could be traced to the hazards of storing rations in the open, to the lack of enough Quartermaster service troops, and to the inefficiency of native labor. In one instance, when civilian workers were ordered to match food items by the biggest letters on each case, it was discovered after three days that all cases labeled “Rations” were stacked together. Because there were not enough men to rearrange the meats, vegetables, fruits and juices quickly and properly, a random assortment of B ration components went forward toward Tébessa. Unfortunately, the upset balance was not solely the result of negligence or haste. Rear area troops sometimes withheld choice foods in excess of their proper allowances. The frequency of this offence was directly proportional to the number of times the food stocks were handled. Rear area troops, on the other hand, were not the only ones at fault. Ration clerks were quick to point out the difference between actual strength and the daily average strength for rations listed on a unit’s certified morning report. The explanation that sudden attachments of extra troops had been the basis for requesting extra rations was not always valid. Tallies showed that combat commanders sometimes countenanced overissues. Yet at times other commanders unwillingly accepted over-issues of B rations because the food was packed in containers too large for small groups of men. In many situations an accurate ration breakdown at the railheads was impossible. Repeatedly, Sullivan drew Gregory’s attention to the ration breakdown problem caused by overly large containers. Lard came in 37-pound cans whereas a small unit required only a 4-pound can; raisins arrived in Number to cans although Sullivan had asked for 15-ounce packages; tea reached the front in a 5-pound carton when the troops only needed a ¾-pound package.14
Digging deeper into the causes which affected B ration losses in the theater, Middleswart was able to arrive at some significant statistics. In December 1943,
he expressed the loss factors in the following percentages:
| Cause | Percentage |
| Total | 8.00 |
| Improper packaging | 0.50 |
| Rehandling damages | 1.50 |
| Pilferage | 2.00 |
| Enemy action | 0.50 |
| Operational movements | 1.00 |
| Extra issues | 0.50 |
| Spoilage due to container imperfections | 0.50 |
| Spoilage due to climate | 1.00 |
| Accounting errors in effecting distribution | 0.50 |
After adding 1.5 percent for rations lost at sea to Middleswart’s figure, NYPE did not consider NATOUSA’s loss factor of 9.5 percent excessive.15
The hope was that a B ration, whenever it could be fed at all in the combat zone, would provide about five pounds of food per man per day, including four vegetables, three different meat components, a dessert pudding, and canned fruit or fruit juice. Significantly, printed menus were ignored, and each division made up a daily menu based on supplies actually in stock. During lulls in the Tunisia fighting, the B ration was sometimes brought into the front lines. Field ranges were installed in a 2½-ton truck, whose sides were boarded up to hide the light. Behind the line at a safe distance, cooks prepared the B ration menu and at night the rolling kitchen rendezvoused with hungry front-line troops. The cooks then tidied up, broke out the breakfast foods, and prepared another meal. Before daybreak, they had served two hot meals and had returned to the rear for more supplies. When this system was not practical, the 34th Division delivered components of the B ration to small combat groups and permitted them to heat their own meals over cans filled with sand and saturated with gasoline or kerosene.16
The ration statistics of II Corps in the Tunisia Campaign show that, by weight, the B ration comprised about 60 percent of the rations issued. A refinement of these figures indicates that the B ration was consumed by the 34th Division only in the lull between the end of the southern campaign and the beginning of the drive for Bizerte. When the 34th was in movement to the northern sector and after it was committed to battle, it reverted to the C and 5-in-1 rations, supplemented by freshly baked bread. Mindful of its Tunisian experience, the 1st Armored Division placed emphasis on keeping the B in balance and at an adequate supply level. For example, this unit found the allowances of sugar, coffee, and baking powder low. Some authorized items, especially condiments, were often unobtainable.17
In the short Sicilian operation menu planners made no effort to provide a balanced B ration. Instead they
Table 1: Fifth Army Ration Issues: Selected Months
| Type of Ration | October 1943 | April 1944 | October 1945 | April 1944 |
| Total Rations* | 5,768,685 | 7,431,771 | 5,593,826 | 7,028,492 |
| Daily Average* | 186,087 | 247,726 | 180,446 | 234,283 |
| B ration | 2,473,621 | 5,262,462 | 4,412,985 | 5,245,435 |
| C ration | 1,205,941 | 111,768 | 110,731 | 845,472 |
| D ration | 18,772 | 42,533 | 12,864 | 12,378 |
| K ration | 636,919 | 147,316 | 516,566 | 571,253 |
| 5-in-1 and 10-in-1 | 1,433,432 | 1,867,692 | 540,680 | 353,954 |
| Supplementary | ||||
| Fresh meat (issues) | 0 | 27 | 31 | 30 |
| Bread (pounds) | 730,788 | 3,494,554 | 2,498,487 | 3,046,067 |
* U.S. Troops only.
Source: Fifth Army History, II, 72; III, 73-74; IV, 230-31, V, 220; VII, 228; VIII, 129-30; IX, 182.
prepared a combined B and 5-in-1 ration and the engineer amphibian brigade distributed it. In Italy the bulk B ration appeared again, and quickly rose to almost 80 percent of the total issue, a figure which persisted through most of the Fifth Army’s career in Italy. (Table 1) Nonetheless the complaint of poor balance was heard intermittently. When a corps quartermaster visited the Fifth Army’s Class I dump at Maddaloni in November 1943, he observed that supplies were issued on a “first come, first served basis,” with no attempt to assure an equitable share of scarce items. Because substitutes for the missing B components could not always be provided, late arrivals departed with short rations. A typical complaint by Sullivan during the same month was that Fifth Army did not receive complete deliveries from Peninsular Base Section. “The shortages of items of the B ration,” he wrote to the Army G-4, “are regular, but the condition is becoming more serious. ...” Hoping to obtain adequate stocks, he enumerated the items needed through the first week of December 1943, but deletions, shortages, and substitutions continued in deliveries from Naples.18
At theater level, quartermasters understood the underlying causes of the difficulty more clearly, but were equally helpless to provide a cure. A major consideration was the extreme shortage of intratheater marine transport, which made it virtually impossible to balance ration shortages in one base section by bringing in surpluses from another location within the theater. Although the requisitioning function had been centralized, the NATOUSA quartermaster submitted separate monthly requisitions to NYPE for each major port or base section, treating its supply position as a separate problem. Under this system, imbalances should have been rectified on arrival of shipments from the United States. But zone of interior depots, reflecting world-wide shortages, made
many substitutions, often shipping items which the theater already had in excess. Diversion of shipping to a port other than the original destination was a still more frequent cause of difficulty. Most ships carried a mixed cargo, including ammunition. Rare indeed was the convoy that arrived without at least some of its ships diverted by the urgent needs of combat.19
Giving troops the type of ration they desired was as much a problem of stock levels as of balances. The authorized level for NATOUSA in the spring of 1944 was 60 days, but actual theater stocks were higher. Because of the receipt of stocks for future operations, levels rose from 69 days on 25 February to 85 days on 25 April 1944. Within the individual base sections, levels varied widely:20
| Days of Supply | |||
| 25 February | 25 March | 25 April | |
| Atlantic Base | 107 | 85 | 108 |
| Mediterranean Base | 107 | 111 | 145 |
| Eastern Base | 87 | 95 | 74 |
| Island Base | 123 | 128 | 124 |
| Peninsular Base | 59 | 68 | 59 |
| Adriatic Depot | 38 | 45 | 59 |
| Tyrrhenian Depot | 70 | 109 | 119 |
| Northern Base | 12 | 29 | 47 |
Late in the summer of 1944, when Middleswart was resisting efforts to lower the authorized subsistence levels, he divided the 60-day level into a 30-day operating supply and a 30-day theater reserve. NYPE shipped the 30-day operational supply to NATOUSA by spreading it over three successive convoys. Every ten days, on the average, a convoy left New York City. Thus requisitions were not complete and all components of the B ration were not available until after the last ship of the third convoy had been unloaded. Each base section then required 20 to 30 days to warehouse, inventory, and make final issue. When water-borne operations were in progress, the normal convoy schedule was disrupted and the delay was even greater.
The reserve stock—as differentiated from the operating stock—constituted the safety factor against a tactical situation which might cause a large number of troops to switch overnight from one type of ration to another. Because of transportation difficulties, pilferage, and the substitution problem, Middleswart insisted that the B ration could only be kept in balance in a dispersed and active base section if a 20-day supply was maintained. Once mature, Peninsular Base Section maintained a 45-day level as a reserve and a 10-day level for operating use.21
In the combat zone of Italy the problem of levels took on different proportions. A 10-day level at a Fifth Army Class I dump and a 2-day reserve at an army railhead assured a satisfactory supply of rations in areas where bridges might be destroyed or where the pack mule was the only method of transportation. On the other hand a 10-day level was too large for the army quartermaster to move on short notice. When Fifth
Army prepared for its drive on Rome and northern Italy, Sullivan preferred to deplete his reserves to a transportable 2-day level of B rations and a single day of operational rations. As the tactical situation stabilized itself north of Florence, and there was a possibility that the many small advanced units and their transportation might be snowbound, Sullivan permitted each division of IV Corps to maintain a minimum reserve of 2 days of B’s and 3 days of C’s, a larger stock than Fifth Army had reserved for its own Class I dump some months earlier.22
In the south of France the same overall supply levels, imposed by NATO-USA, were in force, but a different method of suballocation reflected the special logistical organization for the DRAGOON operation, which was unique within the Mediterranean theater. On 6 October 1944 General Larkin directed that 5 days of supply be kept in the combat zone, 15 days in CONAD, and the balance in Delta Base Section. It was estimated that the supply level would reach 45 days by 1 December, and the authorized maximum of 60 days by 1 January 1945. Theoretically, the CONAD level would consist of 8 days’ reserve and 7 days’ operating stock, but the practical effect was to place the reserve level in the base section and the operating level in advance section. For the headlong pursuit up the Rhone valley, this was entirely satisfactory. Subsequent supply directives for this area were issued by the European theater.23
Perishable Foods
After the TORCH landings, boneless beef, overseas hams, and poultry occasionally arrived in Oran and Casablanca, where they were consumed locally and appreciated as great delicacies. Illustrating the popularity and rarity of these frozen foods, one observer recounted the need to station a guard at the door of the mess where they were served to see that no unauthorized persons entered, and that no one went through the mess line a second time. Because of insufficient refrigeration vessels (reefers) and inadequate refrigeration facilities, static or mobile, in North Africa, fresh meats could not be sent into Tunisia. Before the advent of summer, 1943, Middleswart had to drop any idea of placing orders for fresh meats on his subsistence requisitions. There were no refrigeration facilities in the North African base sections, to handle the necessary quantities of frozen meats during the hot weather.24
The troops in Italy were the first to receive perishable foods in large quantities. The distribution of fresh meat in Fifth Army from November 1943 through the end of the war increased steadily until it became a regular, almost daily, item of issue. (See Table 1.) One of the first duties of the base section quartermaster on entering
Naples was to select cold storage facilities in preparation for the arrival of reefers from NYPE. From Naples, a platoon of the 67th QM Refrigeration Company (Mobile) attached to Fifth Army delivered frozen meats and fresh foods three times a week to forward railheads. A notable morale builder was the issue of a special holiday menu on Thanksgiving and Christmas of 1943, and New Year’s Day, 1944. Fifth Army as well as base section troops enjoyed turkey and ham, olives, celery, apples, walnuts, oranges, and hard candy.25
During the stalemate along the Winter Line in February 1944, Fifth Army and Peninsular Base Section agreed on a procedure for delivery of perishables from Naples. Using two platoons, the 67th Refrigeration Company inaugurated a shuttle-type service whereby one platoon loaded seven vans at Naples and delivered them to the Army Class I dump at Santa Maria. Here the loaded vans were hooked onto the trucks of another platoon which moved the vans to Army railheads. There the vans were emptied, and the refrigeration platoon returned to Santa Maria and transferred them to the first platoon for the trip back to Naples. During the summer of 1944, when the lines of communication were extended, the base section forwarded perishables by refrigerated rail cars, and the shuttle truck-van system operated only beyond the rail transfer point. The fall of Civitavecchia opened a port capable of handling a reefer ship and shortened the trip to army railheads. But by August 1944 the vans were traveling 225 miles per day to bridge the widening gap between the port and the advancing troops.26
For the DRAGOON operation, supply of perishables was entirely a problem of land transportation. On 24 September, 5,000 long tons of cold storage space were available at Marseille, with a prospect of 6,000 tons more in a few weeks. But no refrigerated trailers had been brought ashore, the rail lines were not yet running, and meat deliveries to Seventh Army during the preceding week had consisted of one truckload, rushed through to the army headquarters itself. By early November the picture had changed completely. More than 150 reefer rail cars were operating. A 2,000-ton cold storage plant at Dijon was available and rapidly being filled. Meanwhile 15 million rations of frozen meat and 18 million rations of butter were on hand at Marseille, not counting ship cargo waiting to unload. Nevertheless, in the forward areas the shortages persisted. CONAD still had only one mobile refrigeration company, and issues of perishables to combat units averaged four per week.27
Local Procurement of Subsistence
French North Africa had been an exporter of foodstuffs throughout the 1930s, and quartermasters immediately began seeking commodities in Morocco and Algeria to supplement their standard rations and thus reduce the quantities of perishables shipped overseas from NYPE. Less than ninety days after TORCH, the French authorities in Morocco furnished the Atlantic Base Section quartermaster with itemized lists of foodstuffs which could be procured locally without hardship to the civilian population. In the period between February and June 1943, 30 percent of the vegetables consumed by American troops were purchased locally, as follows:28
| Green beans | 131,208 lbs. |
| Cabbage | 494,410 lbs. |
| Carrots | 600,000 lbs. |
| Cauliflower | 500,000 lbs. |
| Onions | 270,000 lbs. |
| Peas | 460,000 lbs. |
| Potatoes | 600,000 lbs. |
| Spinach | 50,000 lbs. |
| Sweet potatoes | 77,000 lbs. |
| Turnips | 225,000 lbs. |
| Grapefruit | 712,000 each |
| Oranges | 4,892,000 each |
As the theater’s strength increased and operations pointed northward across the Mediterranean, American military and French civilian authorities opened negotiations to expand the procurement program. By contracting for future harvests, the U.S. Army encouraged a greater production of foodstuffs—well in excess of civilian needs. The surpluses were earmarked for military consumption. In the summer of 1943 American officials took steps to import seed, farm machinery, and equipment from the United States. In contrast to the 3,000 tons obtained in Atlantic Base Section in the first half of 1943, the goal through June 1944 envisioned the receipt of 50,000 to 70,000 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, 5,000 tons of canned vegetables, and 20,000 to 30,000 tons of vegetables for dehydration. In Algeria, potatoes were abundant, and during April 1944 Mediterranean Base Section acquired 11,000,000 pounds. The 1943 wheat crop was poor, but by the summer of 1944 North Africa could contribute 49,000 long tons for civilian relief in southern France.29
Until the end of the Tunisian campaign, AFHQ prohibited the buying of fresh meats, poultry, and fish. In Morocco, stocks of commercial meat had become dangerously low. Since 1939 the growing town population had borne the brunt of the meat shortages. Cattlemen were reluctant to exchange their herds for currency which had no purchasing power because of the scarcity of manufactured goods. The civilian meat ration fell to a scanty seven ounces per week during the winter of 1942–43. Rabat, Casablanca, and Meknes experienced meatless periods of three weeks. In May 1943 lifting of the military restriction on local meat procurement stimulated livestock production. Notwithstanding the apparently improved situation, the quantities obtained
for military consumption were small. Considering foods other than fruits and vegetables, the best procurement records were made by Mediterranean Base Section where fish and wine were obtained for Italian prisoners of war, and in Atlantic Base Section, where enough fresh eggs were available for all three base sections in North Africa.30
The island of Sicily fell in August 1943 and citrus fruits and semitropical vegetables became available almost immediately. In March 1944, a typical month, two-thirds of the Quartermaster orders went to twelve Sicilian vendors who marketed $10,000 worth of tangerines, salt, eggs, wine, lettuce, onions, cabbages, radishes, and spaghetti and macaroni. Sicily’s unusual capacity as a source of citrus fruits was demonstrated when an overly zealous subsistence officer in Fifth Army’s quartermaster office requested 6,000,000 pounds of lemons in a single month. The Quartermaster purchasing and contracting officer of Peninsular Base Section, eager to satisfy Fifth Army, approved the lemon order and made the desired purchase in Sicily. Soon unprecedented quantities of lemons began to arrive in Italy. By the time half of the contract had been delivered—and this quantity provided almost one bushel for every soldier in Italy—it was decided that more than enough lemons were on hand to meet all likely needs.31
Base section purchasing and contracting officers were alert to exploit local food markets wherever an area seemed capable of producing a surplus beyond civilian needs. In October 1943, the first month in Italy, Peninsular Base Section bought 209,000 pounds of vegetables. During the first summer, that of 1944, monthly receipts of produce soared to 8 million pounds, and after the liberation of the Po valley, procurement of perishables rose to 14.6 million pounds. Onions, olives, potatoes, peppers, carrots, celery, and various citrus fruits, came into Class I distribution points.
Quartermaster purchase and contract officers cooperated with American Military Government officials to forestall the procurement of perishables that were scarce in commercial markets, but there were occasional lapses in the enforcement of this program. Toward the end of 1944 complaints about encroachments on civilian needs were numerous. Fifth Army circulated a letter reminding purchasing and contracting officers that they could only place orders against allocations approved by the Local Resources Board, the Allied agency that set policy and regulated food allocations. Another violation of approved practices was reflected in the charge that “troops are using government rations as trading material in the procurement of local products.”32
Subsistence procurement included not only perishables but also a variety of
special foods and services. Within urban areas, facilities were requisitioned for processing foods that could enhance the daily ration. In Naples, Rome, Florence, and Leghorn, more than 2,500,-000 pounds of coffee were roasted, ground, and sacked. In smaller cities, such as Marcianise, Francolise, and Montecatini, as well as in the larger urban areas, macaroni and spaghetti plants produced almost 3,000,000 pounds of food for Italians aiding the Allied forces in civilian and military capacities. Yeast-producing plants at Naples, Arqua, and Rome permitted decreases in shipments from New York and sustained the production of Quartermaster bakeries. During the Italian campaign, Peninsular Base Section calculated that 43,379 long tons of fruits and vegetables had been procured locally. Considering the scarcity of reefers and the higher priority enjoyed by ETOUSA from the summer of 1944, it can reasonably be concluded that local procurement made the difference between Fifth Army’s relying on cased and individual rations alone and its enjoyment of fresh foods that would have otherwise been unavailable.33
The initial landings in southern France were made in the Marseille-Toulon area, which normally received fresh produce from the Rhone valley. Combat operations and German demolitions had disrupted civilian transportation from the hinterland and there was a serious food shortage; no supplies were available for local purchase. Seventh Army was forced to feed laborers at least one meal a day, and the first quayside unloading of cargo in southern France was of civil affairs supplies. But rich agricultural areas were quickly liberated and during October, the first month of CONAD operations at Dijon, 320 tons of fruits and vegetables were made available to Seventh Army by the Ravitaillement Général, the central French food rationing agency. As transportation improved, the local surplus was shipped to other parts of France, and the quantities available for U.S. procurement decreased. For the Christmas and New Year menus, CONAD was able to obtain 355 tons of apples, potatoes, onions, lettuce, and leeks.34
Field Bakeries
Less involved but no less important than the delivery of perishables was the baking and issue of fresh two-pound loaves of bread. Bread is practically the only item actually produced in the combat zone, amid the general destructiveness of war. Whether consumed as part of the modified B ration or as a substitute for the unpopular dry crackers of the combat ration, bread was always in demand. In fact, quite apart from nutritional aspects, bread was a major factor in good morale, and tended to make any ration acceptable. Therefore everyone in the theater was interested in whether production was high or low, prompt or delayed, available or absent, and these results depended more on the adequacy of the bakery equipment than on any other single factor.
With the introduction of a
mechanical dough mixer and redesigned ovens for easier movement, American bakery equipment on the eve of Pearl Harbor had been somewhat improved over the old field baking ovens used by the Army since World War I. Yet the new equipment was not trailer-mounted and the dough mixer was the only mechanical equipment. Forty-five 2½-ton trucks had to be begged or borrowed whenever the American bakery company moved its thirty-two ovens and sixteen dough mixers (M1942) . Organizationally, the sole advantage of the American company was flexibility. Its four platoons could be widely separated. Each platoon could produce from 6,000 to 8,000 pounds of bread daily. On the land masses of North Africa and Europe, mobility was more valuable than divisibility and quartermasters who baked the bread for combat units had to follow the forces closely.
In planning for BOLERO and ROUNDUP, American quartermasters in Great Britain had been favorably impressed with British-designed mobile field bakeries and with the organization set up to operate them. The trailer-mounted equipment consisted of three ovens, two diesel-electric generators, one mixer, and one dough divider. The bakery unit was virtually self-sufficient with its ten organic trucks and nine trailers. In July 1942, General Littlejohn had placed an order for British equipment, and had arranged for a Quartermaster company to be schooled in British bakery practices. Company B, 95th Quartermaster Bakery Battalion, was the unit selected for this training. It was reorganized as a two-platoon company with twenty organic trucks, capable of moving all its equipment.35 In November 1942, Littlejohn released B Company to TORCH and its first bakers arrived in Oran early in December. Within a week of its arrival, the unit was producing 21,000 pounds of bread per day, and this amount was doubled when the second platoon began to operate. Six weeks later, Company B divided, with one platoon remaining in Oran while the other joined II Corps in Tébessa.
Meanwhile, several other companies had opened bakeries at Rabat, Casablanca, Oujda, and Constantine, using either commercial bakeries when sanitary sites were obtainable or American M1942 equipment. One such unit was Company B, 99th Quartermaster Bakery Battalion, which arrived in Constantine in March 1943. In Eastern Base Section, the 99th Battalion’s B Company had no trouble as to mobility, but a host of mechanical failures led Colonel Painter to recommend to Middleswart that no more units with American equipment be sent to North Africa until the deficiencies were corrected. Many ovens were idle for lack of burners, and all fire units required repairs. Because only leaded gasoline was available, the units had to be taken apart for cleaning every few hours, and gaskets, filters, and fuel tubes quickly wore out under these conditions. The supply of spare parts was completely inadequate. While the quality of bread was not materially affected the company had to acquire two
civilian bakeries to achieve the required production.36
After observing companies of both the 95th and the 99th Bakery Battalions in action and after reading the journals of the units, Captain Pounder reported to General Gregory:
The American report deals solely with the trouble experienced with the Field Range. That is its main concern, and production is hardly mentioned. The report of the American company using British bakery equipment is exactly opposite. The main point in every part of the report is the actual production and the efforts made to produce greater quantities. ...37
There was no disputing the preference of American quartermasters for British bakery equipment by the time Fifth Army moved onto the beaches of Salerno Bay. Maj. Eckhardt R. Keller, the experienced commander of the 94th Quartermaster Bakery Battalion, predicated his recommendations for the future deployment of bakeries in Italy on the need for “bake-to-bake” mobility. In addition to the need for mobile bakery units, there was also a demand for bakeries to operate in semipermanent installations or to serve comparatively small and isolated units. In this situation, American equipment with its easy adaptability was used effectively, especially after an improved and safer type of burner was provided. Representative units included the 103rd Quartermaster Bakery Company, which baked simultaneously at Aversa, Rome, and Bagnoli; the 108th Company, whose units ranged from Marrakech, Morocco, to Perrégaux, Algeria; the 124th Company, which successively operated in North Africa, Corsica, and Italy; and the 167th Company, which went to southern France and deployed detachments and platoons to bakery sites in Marseille, Lyon, and Dijon. These small units were attached for administration to the nearest larger QM unit and their scattered deployment did not appear to have an ill effect on administrative or operational efficiency.
In each installation, quartermasters baked bread daily (0600 to 0235, with three hours to clean equipment and adjust machinery). Sullivan set a 3- to 5-day level of reserves for such ingredients as flour, salt, sugar, milk, and lard, and a 30-day level for yeast. In the expansion of their operations, bakeries were established in candy, cracker, and soap factories and in churchyards, tents, and garages. Bakers learned to cope with novel situations but found that their routine was often interrupted by the untimely appearance of shell fragments in the dough, fermentation in the water, and worms and weevils in captured flour. Nevertheless, bread production increased monthly. Though 32,000 pounds of bread per day was considered a satisfactory rate of production, the 103rd Quartermaster Bakery Company at Aversa, north of Naples, turned out 63,500 pounds daily for the month of July 1944.38
Bakery operations in southern France followed the Mediterranean pattern. The 108th QM Bakery Company came
ashore at St. Tropez on 30 August, but was separated from its equipment and did odds jobs around the beach dumps for two weeks. Two platoons reached Vesoul by rail on 24 September, and the first issue of bread for combat troops was made two days later. Temporarily the 32,000 pounds daily production of this unit was the only bread available for Seventh Army, but on 2 October the 178th Bakery Company began baking at Epinal and assumed support for VI Corps. After 6 October the XV Corps was also based on Epinal, and the 108th shipped 12,000 pounds a day to assist the 178th Company. Between 19 and 23 October the 108th moved by platoon increments to Epinal, where it demonstrated that, under ideal conditions, it could bake 41,000 pounds per day. Meanwhile the 7553rd (Italian) QM Bakery Company moved up from Dijon to Vesoul. Contrary to ETOUSA doctrine and practice, when mobile bakery companies from northern France became available in November, they were located in the rear areas. The 4362nd, a unit with British mobile equipment and Negro personnel, was stationed at Dijon. The 058th demonstrated its mobility by moving with organic equipment from L’Hermitage to Marseille, a distance of 800 miles, in six days. The versatility of the 167th Bakery Company has already been mentioned. Arriving from Italy on 2 September, it promptly took over operation of two civilian bakeries at Marseille, and was the only bakery unit in CONBASE for several weeks. When CONAD was formed it borrowed two platoons of the 167th, deploying them in section strength at Dijon, Vittel (6th Army Group headquarters), Langres, and Besancon. This unit contained skilled personnel who operated as supervisors of civilian baking operations and only baked, themselves, in emergencies. Delta Base employed men of this unit in much the same way. For example, at Lyon a detachment of one officer and fifteen enlisted men of the 167th operated the Class I railhead and also supervised a large civilian bakery.39
Free Smokes, Soaps, and Sweets
The tobacco, candy, chewing gum, and toilet articles distributed free of charge to combat troops provided the basis of one of the Quartermaster Corps’ most important morale-building services. According to War Department Circular 245, dated 25 July 1942, theater commanders had authority to issue convenience items as part of their field ration whenever sales facilities, such as commissaries, post exchanges, or commercial shops, were not available. In TORCH plans, the Ration Accessory Convenience (RAC) pack was designed to bring post exchange items to the front lines. Every day a RAC pack was to accompany the ration issue for 200 men. Quartermaster planners had decided that in 24 hours 200 men would need one new plastic razor, 30 razor blades, 16 tubes of shaving cream, 3 tooth brushes, 7 cans of tooth powder, 28 1-ounce bars of soap, 200 packages of cigarettes, 2 1-ounce blocks of chewing tobacco, 16 ounces of pipe tobacco, 400 books of matches, 400 ounces of hard candy, and 400 sticks of gum. On 22 March 1943 the OQMG
announced that the Ration Accessory pack would be broken down into three separate kits. Procurement and distribution factors prompted this decision. The toilet kit accompanied a ration issue to 800 men, the smoking sundries constituted a packet for 200 men, and the candy case served for 400 men.
Largely because they were produced in mass lots, the composition of the Ration Accessory kits underwent little change after the summer of 1943. Yet the Corps continued to receive complaints from soldiers dissatisfied with the quality of many of the items. Men preferred shaving soap to brushless cream and tooth paste to powder. The three-piece plastic razor clogged constantly when drawn across the shaving cream. Under streams of hot water, the plastic razor lost any resemblance to a precision instrument, and repeated assembly and disassembly hastened its deterioration. Soldiers preferred the two-piece metal instrument.40
Of the three convenience kits, the soldier was more willing to forego the candy and toilet articles than the tobacco allowances. Indeed, it was not infrequently asserted that a man would more readily relinquish a meal than a cigarette, and a field commander was prepared to invoke his rank and influence to rectify tobacco shortages among his troops. AVALANCHE planning was quite explicit as to the amounts of tobacco for each phase of the operation. In the first week at Anzio each man was to receive a package of cigarettes, two and a half sheets of cigarette paper and a half-ounce of tobacco for rolling his own smokes, plus the usual amounts of pipe and chewing tobacco and two books of safety matches. The D plus 2 convoy was to bring an 8-day supply of free tobacco kits for all troops ashore by that time, and the D plus 7 convoy a 14-clay supply of a combined tobacco and candy kit.
The D to D plus 19 tobacco plans of AVALANCHE did not materialize and the only tobacco reaching the troops was the allowance which came in the combat rations, giving each man about twelve cigarettes a day. Off Naples there was an ample supply of tobacco on the ships, but limited harbor facilities prevented rapid discharge. Corps and division commanders showed no willingness to wait patiently for their allowances to be delivered. Special air and coastal shipments were dispatched to Sicily, and twice General Clark sent his personal plane to Palermo for tobacco supplies which were brought to a forward airstrip and speedily distributed to the troops. During this emergency none of these high priority stocks were issued to rear area troops, or even to hospital patients, except when the amounts exceeded the needs of the infantrymen.41
Aside from the problem of availability, it was difficult to reach an agreement on the tactical area within which tobacco was to be issued gratuitously. Through the summer of 1944 the policy fluctuated. Some officers contended that everyone in Fifth Army ought to obtain
his tobacco without payment, while others recommended that this privilege should be limited to troops forward of divisional rear boundaries. Because the Army Exchange Service could not follow Fifth Army closely enough to make its sales stores accessible in the army area, and because there was a constant movement of troops that could upset any unit or geographical basis of free distribution, it was felt that a parallel system of sales and free issues would result in some units receiving excess allowances and others having none. Since only a single system would be manageable and no one was prepared to advocate a uniform sales system throughout the combat zone, the Fifth Army quartermaster put equity ahead of economy. Sullivan preferred the free issue of candy, gum, tobacco, and toilet articles throughout the army area, and justified it on the grounds that troop morale was more important than saving money. With minor exceptions all Fifth Army troops, even when resting in rear areas, received gratuitous issues from August 1944 to the end of hostilities.42
Seventh Army plans for free issues in southern France were a direct outgrowth of Fifth Army experience and were carried out very successfully in the early stages of the DRAGOON operation. The first G-4 report of Continental Base Section, dated 24 September ‘944, listed a comfortable total of sixty-three tons of “Tobacco, etc.” on hand. During the period of rapid pursuit, deliveries to combat troops in the forward areas were very uncertain. CONAD status reports never showed more than a one and a half day reserve during 1944, and usually indicated that whatever was received had been issued to combat units the same day. As in Fifth Army, supplies were normally received in the form of RAC kits.43
Rations for Friends and Enemies
A casual observer of Fifth Army might assume that its logistical activities were directed exclusively to the support of American troops, but scrutiny reveals that this was an international army, the first of its kind in the war against Germany. In varying strengths throughout its twenty-month campaign in Italy, the Fifth Army was made up not only of American but also of British Commonwealth, Brazilian, French, French protectorate, Italian, Polish, and Yugoslav troops, all of whom at one time or another obtained American supplies and equipment. To paraphrase Rommel’s famous epigram, the Fifth Army was a French chef’s dream and a quartermaster’s nightmare. Indeed, the largest of these forces, the Frenchmen and Moslem troops, was heavily if not exclusively dependent on American services of supply during a substantial part of its career.44 Illustrating the scope of the program, non-American forces consumed 25 percent of the 350 million rations issued by Peninsular Base Section between October 1943 and June 1945. And these figures might have been considerably higher had it not been for the policy
Table 2—Ration issues to non-U.S. personnel in Italy 1 October 1943–31 May 1945
| 20-Month Total | October 1943 | April 1944 | October 1944 | May 1945 | |
| British | 1,138,505 | 7,285 | 24,750 | 43,369 | 16,337 |
| French. | 13,730,762 | 0 | 1,055,700 | 265,174 | 98,797 |
| Moslems | 12,379,110 | 0 | 993,240 | 577,220 | 41,664 |
| Italian civilians | 3,237,675 | 0 | 90,750 | 121,768 | 379,347 |
| POW’S | 10,927,777 | 5,797 | 18,300 | 507,315 | 7,010,464 |
| Italian military | *25,000,000 | 15,097 | 855,030 | † | 2,433,717 |
| Partisans | 313,614 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 186,000 |
| Italian service units. | 2,257,650 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 547,956 |
| Brazilians | 5,367,331 | 0 | 0 | 351,354 | 796,948 |
* Estimated.
† Not Available.
Source: Hist QM PBS, p. 111.
which moved German prisoners of war by the tens of thousands out of this theater. (Table 2)
Of the Allied auxiliaries, the Italians drew the most Quartermaster supplies over the longest period of time in the course of the peninsular campaigns. Following its surrender—word of which greeted the Allied assault convoys as they steamed toward the beaches of Salerno—the Italian Government agreed to turn against Germany and make its manpower available to the United Nations. Officers and enlisted men, theoretically still prisoners of war, were formed into provisional service units and sandwiched into the Allied supply system.
Unlike the French and Brazilian forces, few Italians engaged directly in combat. One motorized group fought in the battle of Mignano Gap, and another was committed in the closing months of the war. The Allies discouraged their use because the Germans regarded captured Italians as deserters rather than as prisoners of war and subjected them to more severe treatment. Consequently, most Italians worked in labor and service units. The number of Italian troops working for Sullivan rose to 6,500—about 50 percent of the number hoped for—and made up 24 service companies, 6 battalions, and 2 quartermaster groups.45
In the spring of 1944, AFHQ directed that supplies would only be furnished those Italians who were considered “effective,” a definition limited to “bona fide members of the Italian armed forces ... subject to the laws of war and the Geneva Convention, ... and actually performing the duties to which assigned.”46 Because their functions were considered essentially civilian in
character, such groups as security police, carabinieri, fire brigades, and guards were not included. But the responsibility was defined even more on the basis of parent organization. Those under British command (“BR—ITI’s”) were supplied by the British; “US-ITI’s” by the Americans. The “ITI—ITI’s,” serving under the Italian War Ministry, drew their rations from the Americans, their medical supplies and fuel from the British, and their clothing from both. Many U.S. supplies were delivered to these troops through lend-lease.
While the French were operating with the Allies in Tunisia they were fighting in and living off their own protectorates; but when in November 1943 the 2nd Moroccan and 3rd Algerian Divisions crossed the Mediterranean and deployed on Fifth Army’s right flank above the Volturno they were less self-sufficient. From a starting figure of a quarter of a million rations to the French in December 1943 and a third of a million to Moslem troops in January 1944, the number issued to the French Expeditionary Corps rose steadily to a peak of three and a half million rations in June 1944.
In January and February 1944, when the weather was cold and tactical operations around Cassino made stringent physical demands on the troops, the French found that their North African diet was inadequate in Italy. They insisted that more fats and sugar were needed and asked the Americans to relieve the monotony of the canned meat that they had eaten exclusively since their arrival in Italy. The supply of livestock in North Africa was meager, according to General Alphonse Juin, commander of the French Expeditionary Corps, and he hoped that his forces could share at least twice weekly in the quantities of freshly killed and frozen meat being distributed to the American troops. In effect, Juin called for a B ration with certain variations to suit the French taste.
Fifth Army agreed that the French ration was not adequate for operational needs, but pointed out that approval for an increase could only come from higher authorities, the same authorities who hoped to dissuade the French in Italy from “buying local resources without proper allocation.” AFHQ did not subscribe to the request that the limited quantities of American meat should be shared with the French. Yet positive measures were taken to meet the basic requirements and to change the method of ration procurement and issue. Because it was now evident that the French were unable to obtain sufficient foodstuffs from North Africa, NATOUSA determined that after 1 June 1944, all of the French and Moslem rations would be provided from NYPE. Only French-procured brandy, wine, and vegetable oils would flow from North Africa. To the extent that livestock was available at all, a vessel was to shuttle from five to six thousand head of live sheep from Tunis to Naples, exclusively for the French Expeditionary Corps. Juin’s troops assumed full responsibility for their slaughter and issue.47
Because dietary preferences were respected in feeding Allied auxiliaries, the rationing of Algerian and Moroccan troops, 50 percent of whom were of the Mohammedan faith, presented difficulties. While the French soldier expected his ration to include wine and brandy—as the U.S. soldier expected his bread and meat—the Moslem religion forbade alcoholic beverages and pork. Accordingly, it was necessary to prepare two different menus within the French Expeditionary Corps. It was not enough to recognize the Mohammedan proscription against pork and alcoholic beverages; even authorized meat could not be eaten unless the animals had been slaughtered by Mohammedans in conformance to Mohammedan ritual. Veiled Moslem women were recruited to herd the sheep aboard ship in Tunisia, accompany them to Italy, and drive the animals into the lines. With full regard for Moslem precepts, the women slaughtered and dressed the sheep, and returned to North Africa for another shipload.48
Shortly after the new French ration procedure was inaugurated, the French Expeditionary Corps was reassigned to Seventh Army to participate in DRAGOON. Sullivan and Bare then learned that Brazilian troops would join Fifth Army. On 16 July 1944, the first contingent of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (BEF) arrived in Naples. By the end of 1944 the force had grown from a combat team of five thousand to an infantry division drawing twenty thousand rations daily. The Brazilian menu was less complex than the one for the French troops. Essentially, the Brazilians accepted the standard B ration with only minor modifications. Peanut butter, pickles, beets, mustard, tomato extracts, canned corn, and dried beans were not popular with the BEF; eventually these foods were deleted while national dietary preferences led to an increase in the allowances of black beans, rice, lard, salt, sugar, and coffee.49
The menu served to Italian cobelligerents also generally followed the B ration, modified to suit Italian tastes. The quantity of meat was considerably less than that eaten by the Americans, but allowances of flour, cheese, and onions were greater. Because they were in their own country, Italians were freer than the French and Brazilians to supplement the ration from local sources so long as the Italian Government paid the bills. Throughout the countryside Italian units obtained fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, olive oil, salt, wine, and yeast.
With the approach of winter along the Gothic Line, the Fifth Army sought permission to increase the ration allowances of Italian troops. But AFHQ, complying with a War Department directive that reflected growing food shortages in the United States, considerably reduced the allowances instead. Sullivan protested to both Ramsey and Col. Georges F. Doriot in the OQMG in Washington. He did not contest the
wisdom of the decision but felt it should not apply to the relatively small number of Italians giving direct support to combat troops in the forward areas. Those laboring at railheads and in pack mule companies were exposed to the rigors of the weather, and Italians generally were handicapped by inadequate kitchens and cooking utensils. Insisting that it was time to authorize higher allowances, if not to equalize the ration of Italian and American combat troops in the forward areas, the Fifth Army admitted to AFHQ that it had never rigorously conformed to the lower allowances. In fact, where twenty or fewer Italians worked alongside the Americans, Sullivan found that he had to feed them on U.S. rations.50 He could not operate any other way. “It must be appreciated,” Tate and Sullivan wrote in self-defense, “that Italian military units with the Fifth Army are relieving approximately 12,000 U.S. troops.”51
AFHQ’s reply again illustrated that logical but varying conclusions can be drawn regarding any issue, depending on the position from which it is viewed. No one could quarrel with Fifth Army’s solicitude for its personnel, but AFHQ felt obliged to see that all Italians obtained the same ration, whether under American or British command. The British claimed that a smaller ration could be issued without serious effect, and the Italian authorities themselves advised that the existing scale was superior to that which Italian troops had obtained when fighting under the Fascist flag. As in the French situation, AFHQ was prepared to temper a broad policy with a touch of mercy. As an emergency measure, AFHQ and MTOUSA authorized Truscott to supplement the flour and meat ration of those Italian troops “forward of the Army Rear Boundary, when engaged in duties of an arduous nature and in extreme weather conditions only.” Early in March 1945 these increases were extended for several more weeks, at first only for 7,500 Italian muleteers but shortly afterward for all Italians in Truscott’s command.52
From the 1899 Hague Conference to the 1929 Geneva Convention, prisoners of war were protected by international agreements. The safety and sanitation of internment camps, welfare, postal conveniences, and the nutritive value of rations were prescribed by provisions to which forty-seven countries subscribed. Inevitably the agreements affected the scope of Quartermaster planning and supply more as to rations than clothing. The typical prisoner brought with him at least the clothes on his back, but he was immediately dependent on his captors for food. Middleswart designed a POW ration to provide a varied menu of bread, meats, dairy products,
dehydrated fruits, and vegetables. As for other groups, adjustments were made to suit national tastes. Italian prisoners, for example, received a ration containing alimentary pastes, and each man was given a daily allowance of local wine in lieu of orange and lemon crystals, tea, and milk. The prisoner of war menu followed in Atlantic Base Section (Morocco) in April 1944 allowed each man 2.537 pounds of food per day broken down as follows:53
| Item | Pounds |
| Bread, fresh | .625 |
| Meat and meat substitutes | .583 |
| Canned vegetables | .274 |
| Spreads | .193 |
| Dairy products | .157 |
| Alimentary pastes | .15 |
| Canned fruits | .1215 |
| Dehydrated vegetables | .105 |
| Cereals | .096 |
| Sugar and syrup | .0625 |
| Flour | .06 |
| Beverages | .035 |
| Wine (.034 liters) | .075 |
From Salerno through the Winter Line the Allies captured only 5,500 Germans, of whom 3,450 were held by the Fifth Army. These prisoners presented no serious quartermaster problems. The policy of providing prisoners of war with a ration “substantially equal in quantity and quality to that of the U.S. troops” was generally adhered to until the end of hostilities. At that time, some 300,000 Germans surrendered and had to be fed until they could be repatriated. Because of food shortages in the United States, the inadvisability of importing large amounts of food when redeployment was going into effect, and because of the unbalanced state of captured enemy rations, allowances were reduced to 2,000 calories for nonworkers and 2,900 calories for manual laborers.54
Seventh Army captured more Germans than Fifth Army, but retained only a modest number in southern France to serve as labor troops. Rationing policy was governed by NATOUSA directives, as in Italy, until Sixth Army Group came under ETOUSA command. At the end of 1944, CONAD was feeding nearly 9,000 German POW’s utilized by Seventh Army, 7,500 with 1st French Army, and nearly 21,000 within its own area. Additionally, CONAD was supporting more than z 1,000 Italian troops. These included 1 base depot, 1 railhead, 1 salvage collecting, 4 salvage repair, 2 laundry, 2 bakery, and 24 service companies, and 5 QM battalion headquarters.55
Feeding the American troops in the Mediterranean theater, their Allies, and various dependent groups, was an exacting and complicated task. In accomplishing it successfully, the QMC had to adopt new and flexible procedures. The experience was valuable, and was applied to subsequent operations. Extensive as it was, this cannot be regarded as one of the major Quartermaster operations of World War II. The scale of Quartermaster activities in other theaters, especially in northern Europe, was far greater, and moreover included certain major responsibilities not encountered by Mediterranean quartermasters. During the North African
operations, the Allies decided that the majority of German prisoners were to be transferred elsewhere. Inertia and the fortunes of war conspired to continue this policy and make it practicable throughout the expanding Mediterranean theater until the end of hostilities. Since Italian prisoners were soon transformed into cobelligerents, feeding this category of personnel never presented a really large problem in Mediterranean supply. A far larger responsibility in all theaters was care for the civilian population, but the staff structure of Allied Force Headquarters provided a special organization for this purpose, and it was not a direct Quartermaster responsibility. In the spring of 1944 the campaigns in the Mediterranean represented both the U.S. Army’s largest combat operations and greatest supply effort to date in World War II. But these accomplishments were soon to be over-shadowed—in scale, in complexity, and in the scope of logistical difficulties to be overcome—by the tremendous military operations in northern France and Germany.