The winter of 1916-17 was pretty bad, if you were a German soldier. Not only were you buried in a trench, fighting the British, but you didn't have much left to eat--the Allies had blockaded Germany pretty thoroughly, and supplies were running very short. The average German troop at this point was getting a scant meat ration perhaps every other day (by 1918 it was down to a couple of times a week), and the winter hit pretty hard. The standard fare of the day was a kind of "bread" made with turnip flour (ground dried turnip), stretched with sawdust. To make it more palatable, they were given a spread to put on it, affectionately known as "Hindenburg fat." What was it, you ask? Why, mashed turnips, of course! Not for nothing was this winter known as Turnip Winter. Ultimately, something on the order of 750,000 German troops died, not from enemy gunfire, but from malnutrition.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Hindenburg Fat
The winter of 1916-17 was pretty bad, if you were a German soldier. Not only were you buried in a trench, fighting the British, but you didn't have much left to eat--the Allies had blockaded Germany pretty thoroughly, and supplies were running very short. The average German troop at this point was getting a scant meat ration perhaps every other day (by 1918 it was down to a couple of times a week), and the winter hit pretty hard. The standard fare of the day was a kind of "bread" made with turnip flour (ground dried turnip), stretched with sawdust. To make it more palatable, they were given a spread to put on it, affectionately known as "Hindenburg fat." What was it, you ask? Why, mashed turnips, of course! Not for nothing was this winter known as Turnip Winter. Ultimately, something on the order of 750,000 German troops died, not from enemy gunfire, but from malnutrition.
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That's been true of most wars up to WWII (possibly including it). Most soldiers died of health related causes (disease/malnutrition) rather than direct enemy action.
ReplyDeleteI knew that in a general sense, but that's just a proportion-- actual absolute numbers can tell a different story, or at least tell the same story in a markedly different way.
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