Iron Ration (aka Iron Portion) of the Imperial German/Prussian army of 1914-1918

The 1914 standard German Army one-day supply of "Eiserne Bestand" ("Iron Ration" in widely accepted English speaking terms), was correctly known in the German/Prussian/Bavarian Military as the "Iron Portion." later in the war this ration was also later called the "Marschproviant" (Marching/traveling ration) consisting of:
• 1 x 135 grams packet of Erbswurst "Pea & Ham Soup" (6 x 22.5g portions)
(no longer standard iron ration issue by 1914 however, older soldiers who were familiar with using
Erbswurst as the old standard of Iron ration still carried this around in reserve when opportunity arose from daily rations issues)
• 1 x "Zwieback" (rusk egg biscuit), or Hartkeks (Hardtack) bags (250g each), or 250 grams of
shelf stable bread (Grey bread or Pumpernickel)
• 1 x coffee cans (25g each) (baggie, box or tin) Both ground and whole bean were available) 2
tins are normally carried the other 2nd tin used as part of daily rations.
• 1x salt bag (1 x 25g portions) (Generally the Bavarian Brand of Bad Reichenhaller) in a small
box or a plain brown wrap. With daily rations can total up to additional 25 grams
• 1 x serving can of canned meat, e.g. Beef or lard (200g each) or generally either the 200 gram
Wurst (Blood Sausage, Liverwurst etc.) or the 300 grams Schinken (Ham) or Schmalzfleisch (a
slightly more fatty version of today’s luncheon meat) or 170g of Bacon/Spec
• 1 x canned vegetable (150g) (e.g., peas, beans etc.)
• 1 x 20 grams pack/box of Sugar (from main field service ration)
• 2 Cigars and/or two cigarettes or 1 ounce of pipe tobacco or 3-6 grams of snuff (generally
Bavarian units would receive snuff from local companies in quantities above normal issue) this
was first issued to all German armed forces personnel from the 1880's as part of daily rations.
• Total weight including packaging: between 800 grams - 1 Kilogram (one day ration).
Also, to note this style of ration was separate to the German "daily ration" which contained more food stuff.
These Iron Rations rations (normally 2 day supply per soldier) were to be retained until no other field service supplies were available in an emergency, and were only to be consumed upon orders. Oddly enough, the German military at the time had made a mental leap beyond regulation, and actually provided soldiers with a second day's worth of portable iron ration, which was to be treated as the daily meal, and could just be consumed en route to engagements, and as such also became known as “marching ration”.
Note that around mid-1916, meat in rations were beginning to get shorter and shorter, with a
"meatless" day once a week in their daily rations being the norm. By 1917, 1/3 of rations was cut down to supply meat, then further cut down to contain nearly no meat in rations by 1918! This, of course, was made up for by pigs, chickens and other livestock that would be either traded or bought from a soldier's own wages, or inadvertently find itself 'accidentally' falling into someone's cook pot!
Concluding Theory:
In conclusion, after decades of trial and error, in the 19th century the German Army, and German
colonial forces have improved on their theories of standardisation of emergency daily ration intake for it’s military. This concept continued that was either already used or adopted by other nations in the first world war, which may have further influenced military rations around the world today. Even the term “Iron ration” is used as a modern term for emergency food stuff in a time of crisis or short supply in a civilian/armed forces context.
In order of appearance:
Peter Vella - Returning Soldier
Suntee (Danny) Vonkhorporn - Smoking, sitting Soldier
Eduardo Nicolas - Sleeping Soldier
Documentary Credits:
Research: Peter Vella
Narration: Peter Vella
Producer: Eduardo Nicolas
Director of Photography: Cori Mitchell
Script Editor: Belinda Vella and Eduardo Nicolas
Film Production: Fire & Thunder Photography Production
Social Media Pages:
Facebook: HistoricalCo...
historicalc...
Sources:
drive.google.com/file/d/1dqC0...
~ British General Staff. "Handbook of the German Army" (Home & Colonial) 4th Edition, August
1914. London: Imperial War Museum, Dept. of Printed Books, p.226.

[@damianlz]

Absolutely love the set! Bang on fantastic job gents

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Thank you!

[@davidhayter8516]

That extremely well fed soldier returning to the front looks like he’s walking down a lane somewhere in Footscray.

[@arferret]

Pete, I just love these videos! Everything from the set to the props to the food and acting is impeccably executed!

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Thank you for the kind word!

[@henrymann8122]

Just found your channel and I enjoyed this. Thank you

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Hi Henry, Thank you for your support as you can imagine this was our biggest effort to a video to date! Hopefully we can keep continuing to make more vids when the team are available from their normal working lives and family. Have a happy new year from the HCA team!

[@kkkathy123]

Wow! Luv the personal touches, photo. Well done guys. Keep the good work up. Looking forward to the next one.

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Thank you for the lovely feedback!

[@ledolol350]

Truly amazing video, love it great work.

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Appreciate the kind words, Thank you

[@colinfairall3816]

Great set and acting gents !!!

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Thank you Mr. Fairall, hopefully we get better with each video release!

[@carlhicksjr8401]

NICE! As a reenactor, I've been fascinated with what's come out over the 100th anniversary of War One, but I'd definitely like to see more German, AH, Italian, and Russian stuff.

[@amadeuspawlik4152]

It must have taken a lot of work to produce this video, it’s great. Was tobacco part of the ration?

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Hi Amadeus Pawlik, Thank you for your question. yes Tobacco was part of the rations of the German/Bavarian/ Prussian armies in that time period. the producer was worried about youtube's demonetisation for promoting smoking that we decided to leave this bit of information out but for you, I'll leave you with this information about it from our HCA research notes for this vid, ENJOY! "Zigarren und Zigaretten" ""Heer und Flotte" (Army and Navy) packs of Cigarettes and Cigars which were issued to all German Armed Forces from the 1880's forward normally as part of daily or frequent rations, in an effort to standardize supplies. Cigars (based on size and manufacturer) were packaged in boxes containing between 3 and 10, while cigarettes initially came in 20's, but as the war progressed, were reduced to issue packs of 4, 5 or 10. Tobacco products were used as an unofficial form of currency in the field." (Photo & info source: 17thdivision.tripod.com/charlottesaxisattic/id14.html )

[@billyshane3804]

Was that soldier, around the 60 second mark, smoking opium? What a champion 🏆

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Hi Billy, "What was the use of opium in ww1? Sedative drugs such as alcohol, morphine, and opium helped to subdue the physical and emotional pain, relax, and alleviate the horrors of combat. Stimulants, such as cocaine and alcohol (but in small amounts), enabled men to keep going and get through everyday life at the front. this was normally used as a medicinal application and not recreational use" Opium was not known to be used for smoking in Europe during WW1 Our Character Danny was smoking a tobacco pipe that was poplar in Northern Europe during the late 19th and early 20th century. I hope you enjoyed the vid!

[@mundayracing]

SHICKOREY!

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Don't you know it?! lol

[@rogergrimaud4507]

I thought that Scat or 31 was and Italian card game. My family has been play this after family dinner for over a houndred years.

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) "This article is about the German card game. For the American game sometimes called Scat, see Thirty-one (card game). Skat (German pronunciation: [ˈskaːt][a]), historically Scat, is a three-player trick-taking card game of the Ace-Ten family, devised around 1810 in Altenburg in the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. It is the national game of Germany[1] and, along with Doppelkopf, it is the most popular card game in Germany and Silesia and one of the most popular in the rest of Poland. A variant of 19th-century Skat was once popular in the US. John McLeod considers it one of the best and most interesting card games for three players,[1][2] and Kelbet described it as "the king of German card games." I been playing "31" for 7 years in another club, I did not know the German equivalent "Scat" till a few years ago while researching to build this kit for a public display! We normally keep our bets to 20 cents a game to keep the friendship among players!

[@tobiasroseboom6523]

You dond get that Erbswurst is a soup konzentrate,... You make soup with it,...

[@heikoplotner2636]

Ernst Jünger, Gibraltar Band, Lüttje Lage !

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Yes, Danny (Smoking, sitting Soldier in the video) personally owns a Lüttje Lage set!" I also have read Ernst Jünger's book "Storm of Steel" have you? Wishing you a Happy New Year from the HCA team!

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

for those who want to further read our research notes on this topic please find this link here: drive.google.com/file/d/1dqC01drSxJL6_1243xV1VHBnqG_dOts-/view

[@ronaldhenderson8803]

I love your videos. I khow its asking alot but if you can will you make a video on what the soldiers on both sides of the American civil war ate.

[@douglas2632]

Erbwurst is great. Knor has discontinued it. Shame.

[@JS-wp4gs]

The modern version was terrible and nothing at all like it was in ww1

[@fernandoduran2094]

Just curious 🤔, Did Germany recruit Filipinos in WW 1 because that one soldier with the field cap does not look German!!

[@ronaldhenderson8803]

😂 I caught that too.

[@historicalcookingadventure4721]

Up until the end of the war, Germany still had a colonial Empire that had holdings overseas, These treaty ports were German concessions in China, leased to it by the Qing dynasty that included: - Kiautschou Bay concession, 1898 to 1914 - German concession in Tientsin, 1895 to 1917 - German concession in Hankou, 1895 to 1917 - Chefoo, 1901 to 1914 I cannot find the number on how many Asian colonial German troops served in WW1 however, here are some link to primary sources of photographs of at least 2 Asians serving in the German/Pussian military in the European theater gmic.co.uk/topic/41863-asians-serving-in-the-german-army/ and a forum discussion on more pictures of Asians serving in the Prussian military: gmic.co.uk/topic/78058-asian-in-german-service/ I hope that helps with your curiosity? Thanks for enjoying the Video!

[@ronaldhenderson8803]

@@historicalcookingadventure4721 good point Germany did have a massive colonial empire back then.

[@davidhayter8516]

That extremely well fed soldier returning to the front looks like he’s walking down a lane somewhere in Footscray.

[@tavish4699]

@davidhayter8516 we understood it when you wrote it the first time david and its still not funny

[@josephturner7569]

Why Gibraltar on his sleeve?

[@josephturner7569]

Ok.