Kindle Notes & Highlights
Traditional loaves had a cross cut in the top, but it was found that this left them susceptible to damage on handling,
Aldershot ovens were used in bakeries in France until early 1915, when steam ovens were introduced.
The Aldershot oven was introduced in the 1860s; each could produce up to fifty-four 2½lb loaves (the ration for 108 men)
The principle of using such ovens is that a fire should be lit inside, kept burning until the oven is hot enough,
An alternative was to use a beer barrel. This only worked in clay soil, as the method was to dig a curved trench for the barrel
Another variation was to cut a fireplace into the side of a solid bank. This would be a little wider than the cook-pot,
Lucky soldiers had a Primus stove or a ‘Tommy cooker’; the latter consisted of a tin with a solid gel fuel cake.
Another cooking method, although not suitable for baking bread, was the Soyer stove.
There were also field or ‘travelling’ kitchens. The purpose of these was to provide a hot meal when required. Infantry battalions each had four travelling kitchens which marched with the troops.
The food was cooked while on the march and the cook-carts were not allowed to stop while the troops were on the move,
When the troops were in trenches, the cook-carts were stationed in the reserve and transport lines behind the trenches,
On the Western Front groceries were sent up on a daily train to the nearest railhead, where they were unloaded and sent on by ‘train’
Animals for the Indian Army troops were processed at Marseilles, where they butchered sheep and goats, the greatest number of these being 26,096
Many Frenchwomen did their bit in feeding the troops by opening estaminets in their houses. The favourite dish was egg and chips,
Soon after the beginning of the war it was realised that canteens were needed in France and a new organisation,
In France the EFC began its work at Le Havre in 1915, operating out of a single second-hand car.
The khaki serge uniform, known as the 1902 Pattern Service Dress, was introduced in 1902 and remained the standard throughout the First World War.
The total quantities of clothing ordered on War Office contracts from 4 August 1914 to 31 March 1919 were as follows:
the final number was eighty-five depots. By the end of the war there was total floor space in these clothing depots of over 2,000,000 square feet.
In November 1914, when the winter set in early, there were queries about why winter clothing was taking up to three weeks to reach the troops when ammunition took forty-eight hours.
None of the uniforms was waterproof and they became very heavy when wet, nor were they warm enough to withstand a really cold winter
The standard great-coats were not waterproof either and became very heavy when wet. Goatskin jerkins
There were also ‘trench comforts’. These comforts included thigh-length gumboots, fur undercoats, woollen underclothes and sheepskin waterproofs for the drivers.
Every autumn winter clothing and blankets had to be issued, and then collected up for repair and cleaning six months later when summer versions were issued. This involved so much bulk that special trains had to be arranged to carry it all.
At the beginning of the war there was a shortage of khaki material for uniforms, mainly because the khaki dye
During the war period over 250,000,000 yards of woollen material, equivalent to 75 per cent of the country’s production, was purchased by the government.
‘Brodie helmets’, protective soup plate-shaped helmets with a rounded top, were first issued in 1915,
Usually referred to as ‘Equipment’, these were basically a set of belts with shoulder straps and the items that were hung on them.
As well as their uniforms, men were issued with what were known as ‘accoutrements’, or equipment sets.
The alternative was known as the 1908 Webbing Equipment, the webbing made of strong woven cotton.
This equipment consisted of a wide belt with ammunition pouches holding seventy-five rounds on each side, and braces which went over
All this weighed over 70lb, or more when the steel helmet was added. It might include a holster for men carrying a pistol. The whole thing could be assembled so that the wearer could put it on in one piece before fastening the belt.
Anti-gas clothing (combination suits or long coat and trousers) was issued in large quantities. Once contaminated,
After the Germans started using gas, it became a matter of urgency to produce respirators.
Training courses also taught methods of water purification. It was well known that bad drinking water is a fruitful source of disease in military forces.
The first discussion in the training manual was on the incidence of sickness in the army and how attention to good sanitation
Interestingly, the hospital admissions records of troops showed that battle wounds were the cause of only one in twenty-five cases, the others
The longer a campaign lasted, the more admissions there were to hospital for disease. The holding of a position for any lengthy period,
These latter tended to be those with penetrating abdominal wounds. These were exacerbated if there was food in the stomach, as partially digested food escaping into
the abdominal cavity tended to cause a high mortality rate from infection. This problem largely derived from the practice of giving the men a good breakfast before they went into action.
When the war started, only 900 beds (for British patients only) were provided in hospitals in France, but by the end of the war, after it had been decided to treat more minor cases in France, this number had grown to almost 90,000.
A sample of those admitted to casualty clearing stations showed that just under 40 per cent were wounded by rifle or machine-gun bullets, and most of the rest by grenades, shells or trench mortars. The most frequent wounds were to the head, face or neck at nearly 16 per cent, the legs at over 15 per cent, and the arms at 11 per cent.
To cope with the increase in the forces on the Western Front, the personnel grew from ten men in a single stationery depot in August 1914 to sixty-two officers and 860 other ranks in thirty centres by November 1918.
Although there had been a directive to contract for printing services locally, this proved impractical due to the confidential and secret nature of many of the publications, while printing in England inevitably meant some delay,
A photographic section, equipped to produce 5,000 whole-plate prints per day, was established for the Fourth Army in October 1916.
The publications department started in May 1915.
The Typewriter Inspection and Repair Service maintained a workshop at each depot and a system of travelling mechanics,
The service ran a rubber stamp factory, which produced numerous stamps, including those required for censorship of letters.
A great deal of timber was needed for various purposes on the Western Front, including
There were vast forests in Northern France and the British Army began to use them, in some cases without first obtaining licences or permission,
