Chapter 5
To have a good meal, to drink the authorized 100 grams of vodka, to have a smoke and a long sleep – a soldier's wish list. But these simple pleasures were often elusive. The food supplied to Red Army soldiers was strictly rationed and depended on whether a unit was in the rear or on the front line. The ‘cadet’ and ‘flyer’ rations were the most nutritious, followed by those for front-line soldiers. But it was not always possible to observe these norms. This is how infantryman, Alexander Rogachev, remembers the situation at the front in the winter of 1941:
Food rarely reached us on the front line – one day we'd be too far from the field kitchens, another we'd be pinned down by enemy fire and there was no chance to reach us. The kitchen guys would crawl out to us with thermos flasks, until we were pulled out of the attack [...] Once, a starshina crawled up to us: ‘Soldiers, tucker time.’ There were peas with meat in the thermos – but you couldn't stick your spoon in, as it was all frozen. We weren't going to light a fire for cooking, so we ate the stuff cold. And so, on the front line, we might eat once a day – mostly we lived on dry tack. We were given only three crackers and five pieces of sugar a day! We would butcher dead horses with our digging tools.
During these periods of starvation, bread was issued – one loaf between six or seven men. The bread would be cut into more or less equal parts; then, a soldier would turn his head away while another, pointing at one of the pieces, would ask: ‘Who's it for?’ The first soldier would name a comrade and the piece of bread found its owner. Judging from veterans’ recollections, everyone dreamed of getting the top crust, as it was reckoned to be more filling.
Cooking a dinner in field conditions. In the background you can see a stranded transport column (consisting of captured Renault, GAZ- AA, GAZ-MM trucks) being rescued by an S-65 ‘Stalinets’ tractor (Ukraine, spring 1944).
A ‘picnic’ near the front line. You can see a German rifle bayonet on the belt of the Red Army soldier on the left. His commander – or maybe his commissar – on the right squats down, and you can see a gas mask jutting out of his bag. There are no weapons nearby, so we can suppose they feel out of danger.
Of course, such situations were typical of the years 1941-1942, when the Red Army was on the retreat and losing territory with its stocks of provisions. But irregularities concerning food supply also occurred later. A signalman, Meir Toker, recalls:
Up until the summer of 1944 we'd been fed poorly. If a horse had been killed somewhere nearby it would be an instant feast for us – meat! A simple soldier always thinks where to procure something to eat. Trench life itself makes him crafty. Say there is debris of a shot-down plane nearby. You make a pretty finka [i.e. a Finnish knife – trans.] from the fuselage boarding and swap it for food with the cook. We would also steal. Once, we pinched a crate containing tinned food from the divisional food store and fed our whole platoon. Even now I am not ashamed of that! Only those who have experienced starvation know how hard it is to endure ...
During advances, soldiers managed to ‘liberate’ foodstuffs which were considered most valuable. Dmitry Koryachek, crew member of an ISU-152 self-propelled gun, remembers:
We had a crate with trophy crackers in our machine, and a bag of granulated sugar lay on the top of the turret. You get up in the morning, gobble our mess tin of sugar with crackers, and you won't feel hungry all day long.
The veterans recall with great pleasure tinned food supplied via the Lend-Lease plan. The tinned foodstuffs were known colloquially as ‘the Second Front’.
Officers received additional rations. Usually, commanders of small units – such as tanks or artillery platoons – would share it between their men, but this was not customary in rifle units. A Katyusha Battery Commander, Pavel Gurevich, recalls:
Once a month the officers received the narkom ration: granulated sugar, butter, cereals, tobacco or cigarettes – ‘Belomorkanal’ or ‘Gvardeyskie’, sometimes ‘Kazbek’. I would give most of my ration to the soldiers. What did I need all this food for? They needed it more – they did the physical work, carrying shells and so on.
Flyers were the most privileged servicemen with regard to food. They ate in canteens served by waitresses, and if there was no opportunity to get to a canteen between sorties, meals would be brought up to the planes. A Pe-2 bomber pilot, Elena Malyutina, remembers:
We were fed very well, but craved sweet things, so we'd consume condensed milk from our emergency kit. When the check committees found out, we were reprimanded quite harshly. We were given 100 grams of vodka after sorties but I didn't drink it. I gave it to the guys – the gunners.
The vodka ration of 100 grams a day was only issued to front-line fighting men during the cold season, and to airmen after combat sorties. A fighter pilot, Grigory Krivosheev, remembers:
There were three tables in the canteen: one for each squadron. We would come for dinner the squadron commander would report that all were assembled, and only then could we begin the meal. A starshina would bring a nice decanter. If a squadron had made fifteen sorties, the decanter would contain a litre and a half of vodka. This vodka was put before the squadron commander and he would pour it into our glasses. If you received a full 100 grams, it meant that you'd deserved it; if a bit more, then you'd done your job superbly. But if your glass was underfilled, it meant you'd flown poorly. All this was done in silence. Everyone knew it was an assessment of his deeds over the last day.
Dispensing porridge from a field kitchen. Notice the variation in ages among the soldiers.
The vodka ration was a primitive means to remove stress. Of course, those who liked booze often ‘topped up’ the fixed norm with trophy spirits or local samogon [i.e. ‘moonshine’ – trans.].
The situation with food supply changed when the troops entered German territory. A signalman, Solomon Frenkel, recalls:
There were staggering stocks of tucker in the cellars of abandoned German houses. There was such an assortment of foodstuffs and such amounts that we only marvelled at wiping out these dainties. Our cook, Uncle Vanya the Tatar, would throw whole piglets into the cauldron of the field kitchen and run after the guys begging: ‘Boys, eat some! Take it!’ but we would only turn up our noses.
Soldiers heat up mess tins with their dinner on the campfire (north-west of Tuapse, 1943).
Drinking tea in the trenches. Covered by the slope of a steep bank, Red Army soldiers could set the samovar to boil, undetected by German observers (Leningrad Front, 1941).
The field kitchen of a mountain rifle unit loaded onto a horse. The soldier leading the way is uniformed and equipped in typical style for Red Army mountain troops (Caucasus, 1942).
Another field kitchen. The soldier on the right wears a cloth Budyonovka helmet, which was withdrawn from military supplies in 1940. Thus we can date the photo to the winter of 1941/42. The following winter, Budyonovkas were definitely out of use.
A halt in a half-ruined house, following a successful battle. The soldier in the foreground put his SSh-36 helmet straight on his fur cap. The helmet wasn't adapted for this: in cold weather, it was usually worn with a special woollen cap comforter. On the belt of the Red Army soldier is a cartridge pouch for two RGD-33 grenades. An accordionplayer sits on the windowsill (Leningrad Front, 1941).
Delivery of hot food in a captured German thermos flask.
Dinner is served: delivery of food in thermos flasks to troops in the firing line. But judging by the position of the photographer, we might conclude the photo was staged.
A winter dinner: the soldiers probably had to make do with some bread with tea (Leningrad Front, 1943).
Red Army soldiers snacking on bread and tinned food in the shadow of a destroyed German motor convoy.
Dinner in the trenches. The soldier in the foreground eats with a wooden spoon, most likely home-made. Due to the abundance of SVT-40 rifles, we can conclude that this photo was taken in the rear (Kalinin Front, 1943).
Another airfield dinner (Leningrad Front, 1942).
‘Asiatic hordes’ – a group of soldiers, mostly from Middle Asia, warm themselves at a campfire while awaiting dinner. Notice the different styles of clothing, including overcoats, padded pea-jackets and sheepskins.
This photo was taken in a cramped dugout. One of the soldiers lights a portable stove, known as a ‘Burzhuika’ [a joke, meaning: ‘truly bourgeois stove’ – trans.], placed on a German oil can. Another soldier tries to eat, while a third proudly poses with a field telephone.
Front-line food. The photo was taken during a halt on the march. Although the soldiers’ blouses are of differing patterns, this photo was taken in 1944 (3rd Ukrainian Front).
This naval gun crew receive their hot dinner while on watch. Notice the sailors eat from bowls and plates rather than mess tins.
The dinner of naval anti-aircraft gunners. One crewman doesn't stop observing the sky (Black Sea Fleet).
Crewmen of a naval aviation bomber regiment eat near their Il-4 plane, while it is refuelled. The waitress who brought the food waits till the men are finished.
These ground-attack pilots (see the II-2 in the background) were unable to visit an airfield canteen, so dinner was served at the planes. The flyer on the right sports a raglan leather coat.
‘Let's have a smoke.’ A soldier lights his comrade's cigarette with a match – very valuable objects. More often, Red Army soldiers struck a spark with flint and steel or made their own lighters. On the knee of the soldier on the left, you can see a box with tobacco. The owner of the matches has a compass on his hand. On the helmet of the reading soldier, you can see a Red Star, although this was relatively rare in the fighting zone.
Another front-line cigarette break. A soldier lights a roll-up known as a ‘goat's leg’, due to its shape.
A typical scene during the final days of the war in Germany. The tankmen no longer fear enemy attacks and drink some alcohol, perhaps commemorating fallen comrades. They also sing their favourite songs to an accordion accompaniment.
The crew of a T-34–76 tank at dinner.
To all appearances these Red Army soldiers met either to celebrate New Year's Eve or to down their vodka ration.
