World War 2 In Review: food during WWII

Marine field kitchen on Guadalcanal, 1942.

Feeding over 16 million American troops required an unprecedented industrial effort, relying heavily on canned goods, preserved rations, and massive supply chains. While the US Army was dubbed the best-fed in the war, soldiers survived on everything from freshly cooked chow behind the lines to heavily fortified field packets.

Field Rations

When hot meals were impossible, troops relied on prepackaged field rations:

K-Rations: Small, lightweight boxes designed for paratroopers, providing around 2,800 calories. They contained canned meats (like ham and eggs), biscuits, dried fruit, chocolate, chewing gum, cigarettes, and accessory kits.

C-Rations: Developed in 1938, these consisted of heavy 12-ounce cans divided into M-units (meat and vegetable) and B-units (bread and dessert). They provided roughly 3,700 calories per day.

D-Rations: A dense, emergency chocolate bar designed to taste only "a little better than a boiled potato" to prevent soldiers from eating it when they weren't in immediate danger.

The Frontline Diet

The most iconic frontline breakfast was "SOS" (shit on a shingle)—a thick gravy of chipped beef, sausage, or milk served on toast, alongside spam and powdered eggs. Soldiers also consumed vast quantities of canned peaches, instant coffee, and the military-exclusive M&M's, which were introduced in 1941.

My Dad, Willis R. Merriam, hated “Shit on a Shingle”, which was the famous, tongue-in-cheek military nickname for creamed chipped (or ground) beef served over toast. It was a staple of U.S. armed forces rations during World War I and World War II because the ingredients were cheap, shelf-stable, and highly caloric. He would not allow it in the house. However, my Mom made us chipped dried beef in a milk sauce which was served on mashed potatoes, plus a vegetable which was often dinner because it was all they could afford on their meager weekly earnings. I actually liked that version, but never had actual “SOS”, which I am sure I would not have liked as much.

He was 24 in February 1942 when he and his brother Donald enlisted in the Army in Hartford, Connecticut. He served in the Army in the Aleutians throughout the war, mostly on a desolate island nearer the mainland at an advance warning post. He was in maintenance since he had been in the heating installation and maintenance business in civilian life. —Ray Merriam, Webmaster of World War 2 In Review

Logistics and the Axis Contrast

American agricultural and supply dominance was a massive strategic advantage, with the US even dedicating entire ships to ice cream production. By contrast, German troops relied heavily on rye bread, cured sausages (wurst), and canned meat, but increasingly suffered from supply shortages as the war dragged on. Japanese forces faced severe logistical breakdowns, frequently resulting in foraging and mass starvation.

A U.S. field kitchen constructed under the wing of an derelict French Bloch MB.200 bomber in North Africa, 1943. Original caption: "With the aid of a little canvas, and an obsolete French bomber, an American task force has set up a very practical mess kitchen in North Africa. Left to right are Lieutenant E. T. McBoon of Canton, Illinois, and Ssergeant C. W. Moore of Houston, Texas, inspecting the kitchen. Corporal William G. Warrington, a cook from Jefferson, Texas, is preparing the meal."

German supply troop on a march on a country road with a field kitchen, southern France, 1942.

Schutzpolizei in Belgium with a field kitchen, 1940.

German field kitchen in front of the Barracks Négrier, Lille, France, 1940.

German artillerymen receive warm food from the mobile field kitchen, Denmark, 1940.

Central/Northern Russia German supply unit with field kitchen on the march through muddy terrain, June 1942.

German field kitchen drawn by horses.

German field kitchen, August 29, 1932.

German field kitchen.

A World War II-era field kitchen used by the Czechoslovak Army.

Norwegian Infantry Regiment 12 maintained neutrality at the border with the Soviet Union and Finland in Finnmark in 1940. When the Germans invaded Norway on April 9, IR 12 was sent south, and under General Carl Gustav Fleischer they were deployed in the Norwegian counterattack at Gratangen near Narvik, where IR 12 suffered heavy losses. Original caption: "The field kitchen was in full swing with today's dinner; airy and cold. The nasal drips easily fell into the pot."

Royal Hungarian Army soldiers at a field kitchen in 1938.

Soviet soldier POWs in a prisoner of war camp serving food at a field kitchen, Vitebsk, Russia, July 17, 1941.

The wag pays for his pint of milk, 1944. Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North West Europe, 1944. Trooper Dawson of 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) kisses a French woman on the cheek after obtaining a can of fresh milk - no doubt a welcome addition to the usual rations consumed by the soldiers.

Crew of a Sherman tank from the Northamptonshire Yeomanry eating rations during Operation Totalize.

Murdie Andrews dishing out the rations, 1944. Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North West Europe, 1944-1945. 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) in Europe, 1944. Rations are unloaded by soldiers from a truck while others butcher meat.