During the war, any material values could be devalued, but not food: even a stale piece of bread became coveted. Nutrition was especially important at the front, and the rear did everything possible so that the soldiers did not experience hunger.
On special mode
From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, the authorities of the USSR began to keep a strict record of all food supplies, which was a necessary condition for the introduction of a distribution system. They cut not only the number of products, but also their list. Rationalization was subject to strict wartime discipline.
First of all, products were used, of which there were more in warehouses, scarce goods were temporarily adhered to. Moreover, the accounting records displayed only the total amount of meat, fats, vegetables without division into types - the assortment was secondary. Strategic food supplies began to replenish in 1938 and at some points reached the planned level by the beginning of the war. This primarily concerned flour, cereals, milk powder and tea.
In the first months of the war, food reserves and the possibility of replenishing them began to steadily decline as the Germans seized more and more Soviet territory. By the end of 1942, the USSR lost over 70% of farmland, which, in particular, grew up to 38% of sugar beet and 84% of grain. In addition, a significant part of the able-bodied male population and equipment involved in collective farms was sent to the front.
Everything for the front
Promotional video:
During this difficult time, the whole country worked for the front. The bulk of the available food was sent to the front line. Tens of thousands of chefs were also sent to the army, for whom the front became a real culinary laboratory. They tried their best, making the ration of the fighters as rich and nutritious as possible. Many war veterans admitted that they never ate such delicious porridge as in the war.
Often, the Red Army men received parcels from people they did not know. On a personal initiative, citizens sent traditionally Russian products to the front - wild berries, pine nuts, dried mushrooms, pickled apples, as well as honey and jam. The village spoiled the fighters with bacon, homemade sausage and pastries.
Kazakhs sent fermented milk products to the leading edge - kumis and khurunga, Uzbeks sent mainly dried apricots, raisins and dried melons, the inhabitants of Transcaucasia - lemons and tangerines. Such delicacies could not be bought in stores during the war.
Differentiated norms
The highest daily allowances for servicemen were in the active army. Irina Tazhidinova and Evgeny Krinko in the book "Food for military personnel in 1941-1945." they write that in combat units, privates and officers were supposed to have from 800 g to 900 g of rye bread (depending on the season), 500 g of potatoes and 320 g of other vegetables (cabbage, beets, carrots) and greens, 170 g of cereals and pasta, 150 g of meat, 100 g of fish, 50 g of fat and 35 g of sugar.
Air Force flight personnel were given a reinforced ration (with a hot breakfast). The pilot's daily bread and potatoes ration was the same as that of the infantryman, otherwise it was higher, and among other things, it contained other products: 190 g of cereals, 390 g of meat and poultry, 90 g of fish, 80 g of sugar, 20 g of condensed milk, 20 g of cottage cheese, 10 g of sour cream, 20 g of cheese and half an egg. In addition, in case of unplanned landings, food supplies were kept on board, which included canned food, including condensed milk, and cookies.
If we compare the daily allowance of the soldiers of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War with what was given to the soldiers of the imperial army in the First World War, then in terms of calorie content it was lower, mainly due to the fact that there was more bread and meat in the diet of the soldiers of tsarist Russia.
Bread on the front lines
The basis of food for soldiers in the war was bread, which made up about 80% of the diet. The rear bakeries provided primarily the army. True, if the delivery of bread to the front was delayed, then it was baked right on the front line in floor braziers.
Considering that rye flour was in short supply, barley flour was often used to make bread. Barley bread made with sourdough was especially tasty. Sometimes wallpaper flour was used to bake front-line bread, which was mixed with barley flour. This type of bread required a longer preparation time and turned out to be harder.
If the flour was very tight, as during the battle for Moscow, the bread was baked from potatoes and bran - it was called "Rzhevsky". In fact, the fighters often substituted potatoes for bread. “We'll pick up potatoes in the first garden we come across and cook right in a bucket, and then sit around like gypsies and eat, some with our hands, a knife, a spoon, and some with just a stick,” one of the soldiers recalled.
Isn't it soup?
At the front, it was necessary to be hot, soups and stews were cooked from almost any ingredients that were at hand. Pea soup was especially popular. In a good scenario, it was cooked with pearl barley, fried onions and carrots, as well as potatoes and stew.
If there were no products for the soup, they could be content with broths. For example, the front-line chef Georgy tried not to pour out the water in which the rice was cooked, he filtered it and distributed it to the circles of the soldiers. He did the same with the pasta broth. Such "bread water" also saturates and partly replaces the soup.
In times of famine, the Red Army used horse meat to prepare stew, often slaughtering healthy horses. Major Boris Slutsky of the Guard wrote that this was practiced in the spring of 1942: "I still remember the sweaty sweet smell of horse meat soup."
What the German will send
Sometimes Soviet soldiers supplemented their diet with food trophies. For example, having taken possession of the field kitchen of the Romanians, our soldiers feasted on hominy. And in German rations, there was a pea concentrate, exotic for a Soviet person, and a hybrid of honey with butter was also surprising - the Red Army soldiers willingly spread this mixture on bread.
Dropping boxes of food over the positions of the Wehrmacht units, the German pilots often missed the mark, and the coveted food went straight to our soldiers. Absorbing the sausages and chocolates they got, the Soviet fighters "sent gratitude" to the hungry and licking Fritz, who were located literally a couple of hundred meters from them.
And no chocolate
From the autumn of 1943, during the general counteroffensive, the situation with the provision of provisions at the front deteriorated markedly. Some commanders solved the food problem by harvesting vegetables, creating subsidiary farms in the units.
Back in the summer of 1942, the People's Commissariat of Defense issued a decree, according to which the responsible persons were obliged to collect wild berries, mushrooms, nuts, herbs and root crops, as well as organize fishing and hunting both in the combat zone and in the territory of military garrisons.
Beginning in 1944, the supply of food to the army gradually returned to normal, in the letters of soldiers you can often find something like this: "The food is great, we eat fatty, tasty and a lot." Boris Slutsky, mentioned above, wrote: “The lower standard of living of the pre-war life helped, and did not harm our passion-tolerance. We overturned the army, which included chocolate, Dutch cheese and sweets in the soldiers' ration.”
Taras Repin