Merry Christmas 1942 - German WW2 Special Christmas Ration
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
- Today we're looking at the special Wehrmacht Christmas Ration - the German WW2 MRE From Stalingrad, 1942... to brighten your Christmas Spirit, even if you're trapped in the Stalingrad Kessel.
In this wehrmacht ration review, we will see what treats Uncle Adolf has in store for his troopers... will they have a Merry Christmas, or will they starve?
This 1942 German Wehrmacht MRE is in the style of the US K Ration, and isn't designed to be a full meal, just a treat to raise your morale.
Merry Christmas 1942 From Stalingrad!
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Scho-Ka-Kola video - • Scho Ka Kola Review - ...
Timestamps:
0:00-0:57 - Intro to Wehrmacht Christmas Ration
0:57-2:19 - Unboxing
2:19-6:09 - Components review
6:10-8:05 - Scho-Ka-Kola
8:06-11:18 - Tea, Soup, Deli Drops
11:18-12-10 - Fin
#WehrmachtRation
#rationreview
#WW2Rations
The candle is called a "Hindenburg-Licht" (Hindenburg candle), which was introduced in the German Army during First (!) world war and is a really versatile survival tool! Can be used for light, for heating an earthbunker or tent or warming up water or any kind of soup or stew in your mess kit or canteen. When not used you can carry it in a pocket of your coat or jacket. As fuel they used the worst kind of fat which couldn't be used in meals or even to lubricate machinery and the outer cup was made out of waxed paper or cardboard. A really effective and useful item, made of otherwise useless materials!
In the field or at sea, any "special rations" were greatly appreciated. Especially in wartime.
He forgot the methamphetamine
Nah, send some regular rations so they don't starve
That was really interesting to see.
It's sad that those meger items were considered a treat.
I can't imagine how horrible it was for soldiers in WW1 & and WW2, in fact, any war.
Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the past. :)
We live in different times...A TV with one channel is meger at best for us, them at that time, would be a miracle!
Hilarious or not, but the average soldier on both sides had a LOT of chocolate with him and pretty plenty food as well. WW1 from afar makes you believe that the soldiers were starving, but that's not the case. The weapons industry was churning out munitions and weapons en masse, but so was the food industry. The difference between WW1 and WW2 was, that it was mainly a stationary war, meaning that the logistic lines were not long at all, completely unhindered as well and over the whole course of the war nothing much changed. This alone allowed to bring so much more ammo and supplies on a constant basis to the frontline. I've seen German and British rations from WW1 MIDWAR which contained a whole pound of chocolate sealed in a can and plenty of meat.
I read from official accounts of a day's worth of food for a British soldier:
"1 1/4 lb fresh or frozen meat, or 1 lb preserved or salt meat; 1 1/4 lb bread, or 1 lb biscuit or flour; 4 oz. bacon; 3 oz. cheese; 5/8 oz. tea; 4 oz. jam; 3 oz. sugar; 1/2 oz salt; 1/36 oz. pepper; 1/20 oz. mustard; 8 oz. fresh or 2 oz. dried vegetables; 1/10 gill lime juice if fresh vegetables not issued;* 1/2 gill rum;* not exceeding 2 oz. tobacco per week."
1 1/4lb of meat, that's something today even the average USMC grunt would lick his fingers over.
Stalingrad was one of those events where old Herman Göering really dropped the ball. He'd promised that the Lüftwaffe would deliver so many tons of supplies every day, yet could only delivered a fraction of that and not daily.
The candle was probably used to heat the soldier's water rather than for light.
Starved, freezing cold and vastly undersupplied, that ration would have been a gift from heaven.
You should check out the TIKhistory channel's masterpiece on Stalingrad. Long story short - it wasn't all the Luftwaffe's fault. It was a combination of the German logistics train being unable to supply enough "stuff" to be flown to the Sixth Army, and the VVS being sufficiently strong to deny the Germans total air superiority. Much as Goering was at fault for a lot, in this particular instance, can't 100% blame him for it.
Tik backed it up with a hell of a lot of research material, including a direct comparison to the less well known Demyansk Pocket airbridge. Comparable in terms of amount of supply needed on a daily basis, distance from nearest friendly airfield, etc etc, the Germans succeeded there but failed at Stalingrad. Very worth the time to listen through.
Candles are part of two different German Christmas traditions. decorating christmas trees and creating the holiday candle arch called Schwibbogen or Lichterbogen.
I can see a soldier putting a chunk of the chocolate bar in his coffee. To sweeten it and add a Christmas feel to it. Besides it's Frikkin awesome. Half a Swiss Miss powdered Hot Chocolate pack as Creamer is killer lol
Anything that made you feel appreciated by the folks at home was a huge help.
Next will be 1812 Christmas French Ration in winter quarter in Moscow 😅
_Matches?_
Love your work
The German made "Stalingrad" movie is absolutely brilliant.
Big hello from Northern Ireland, UK. I am a WWI and ACW reenactor I always wondered how repro rations compare to the original, this is no reflection on your video.
A tip for making ground coffee (cowboy coffee) in a cup that might also work with tea. When the coffee and perhaps tea is put into the boiling water let it steep for a while to infuse, then put a little cold water into the cup and sit a while. This would cause the coffee grounds to sink to the bottom of the cup, this might work with tea also.
Enjoying you videos 👍
Yes that works equally well for tea.
I'll try that... I never do well with loose leaf tea
Excellent reviews. Thank you for your service
I love rations, and I do ww2 reenacting. This ticked a few boxes. Cool little reproduction. Definitely have burned through a LOT of schokakola. Thanks for the video
At least some Ersatz coffee was made from acorns. Real coffee was a rare luxury.
You wouldn,t believe, it was the same in the USSR ALL THE TIME.that POS existed!!😂😂😂
I really enjoyed this video well done.
Amazing video!
Awesome! Great lesson 19D. Candle may have been for heat.
Great video
Frohe Weihnachten meine Kameraden🇩🇪
Und ein frohes neues Jahr.
Thanks!
Thank you for that!
great vid
Sound went out when you picked up the can of chocolate
10:16 This whole time I'm like: "What if he dropped the candle in the soup?" xD
One report from Stalingrad says one german soldier died of exhaustion because his starved body was unabel to digest a little can of high caloric " Schmalzfleisch" . To the end most rations ( onlyif available) were measured in gramm! 50g bread, 20g fat 20g marmelade and so on . The german logistic had failed dramaticly. High caloric dried rations could have been available to the soldiers if anyone have told the responseable unit in germany that an whole army was surroundet and starving.
I recently watched that Stalingrad movie you reference in your video the most gut-wrenching scene is when that guy takes off that other guy's boot
Yeah he tells the guy with the MG 34 to shoot the big guy, then takes his boots and says thank g-d they fit.
Could the candle be used for melting/heating a canteen cup of water for your tea/coffee/soup under your blanket to hide the light it gives off?
_This type of candle was common in Germany. It was made from suet, and called _*_"Hindenburglicht"._*_ Jerriy used that for pretty much everything when he needed a bit of warmth, light or even both _*_. . ._*
You're freezing to death and its dark because you're out of fuel for your lanterns, yes the candle would've been a clutch item to receive.
The candle IS the heat source! No smoke, no smell, low flame and if covered appropriately, a great, quick source to warm the items up!
Heat source would have been individual esbit or larger camp stoves.
The Hindenburg candle was for atmosphere.
@@bollox8992 Neither is correct here, the candle was for Christmas holiday traditions in Germany, probably Schwibbogen.
Awsome ration verry cool to see 👀
Hate symbols are offensive when your doing a video of the history of ww2 are offensive????? Fuck CZcams how’s that for offensive? Everything is offensive to them. Keep up the good work buddy we appreciate your content.
Scho-Ka-Kola is interesting stuff. It was referred to as "aviator chocolate" by the German troops. It had a caffeine content of about 0.2 percent, which is derived from the cocoa content of 58 percent and the addition of 2.6 percent roast coffee and 1.6 percent kola nut. Each wedge was basically a caffeine pill, intended for use as a stimulant. The red and white container held a couple of wheels of bittersweet dark chocolate, and the blue and white container was a milk chocolate. There was also a green and white container, which held a hazelnut flavored chocolate.
With the shocacola if your on a long trip, the blue was very nice, helped me stay awake.
Cool little detail, a life rune symbol on the lifesaver candies
Anyone else experienced a audio loss bit? From like the start of shoka cola to the middle of the hard candy drop?
From what I have learned through listening to WW2 audio books, German veterans talking, scenes like above were not that uncommon.
When the war started, supplies were gathered to send to the units' depots. However, there were also private goods, donations like warm clothing, luxury goods like brandy, etc., gathered and sent the same way. But there were never enough luxury goods so that every soldiers would receive some, so these ended up in depots with only the officers able to request them.
After the tide turned and the German troops were being pulled back, the regular depots were emptied but even then the 'special depots' were not opened up for the regular personnel. In most cases, the men guarding these took what they could, then burned everything.
Same reason: there never was enough to go around.
The Ersatzkaffee is probably made from roasted acorns.
The days where u light up the candles in december calls "Advents Tage" (1 Advent, 2 Advent ,3 Advent & 4 Advent) for each Advent u light the candles on
the candle would be for heating the soup tea and coffee.
These items are unique and hard to get. I am impressed, mate!
candle was probably used for heat source for the soup and tea.
What size Opinel are you using? And thank you for the videos!
Pervatin! Love it I have a sealed crate of sealed pervatin captured from GI-s and I’ve had it ever since - the packet that I opened and tried and believe me it still works
I would agree. With no where near enough supplies getting through to Stalingrad, I highly doubt niceties like mail and Christmas rations would be taking up valuable space on the few cargo planes that were able to deliver. But I can see those not in Stalingrad getting these or simular
cool
I remember the Maggi broth powder and cubes from the brief time that my family was in Germany in the early 90s. Must be one of those brands like Coca-Cola or Tabasco that were just around forever!
Use the candle to heat the water in the canteen cup for ze soup 🥣
If you see the video of Field Marshall Von Paulis after surrendering to the Red Army he looks really thin, so at least not all the commanders were hoarding the food.
He was a bean pole to begin with. Yes I agree he looked a little thin but he was tall and skinny naturally.
Great little exploration into this fun reproduction! I don't think the amount of tea that you ended up putting in the mug was excessive; however, it would've required a strainer to be properly appreciated. Who knows if they had access to that kind of amenity on the front lines but I think, as any upstanding British person would, I'd be annoyed if they provided leaves but no teapot!
The amount of tea may have been a little over the top. On the bag it says to use one table spoon per liter (32 oz?). The 25 g in the bag are supposed the yield 30 cups.
Pour it through a sock.
Merry chrismas german ❤
Where do you get these mre’s I would like to try that
The candle was included to use to heat the water for your ration
The candle is to make your tea and coffee.
Just an FYI, no waffen SS fought in Stalingrad so the thumbnail is a little incorrect. Great videos! Would love to know where these complete German WWII rations come from.
Really!?...Im not doubting you, thats just really interesting. You can never learn all there is to know about WW2.
Wrong there was Several Waffen-SS units participated in the Battle of Stalingrad. Notably:
1. SS Division Wiking: Comprised mainly of volunteers from Germany, Norway, Denmark, and other countries, it was engaged in the region during the battle.
2. SS Cavalry Brigade: Involved in the wider Stalingrad campaign, this unit engaged in operations around the city.
@@Agrippa23 nice try, but no. Neither were engaged in the battle for the city. Both units you referenced, no matter where they sourced their recruits, were only engaged in the "region" after the Soviets encircled the city in operation Uranus. So no, they did not fight in Stalingrad.
@@Agrippa23However, were either of them part of the encircled 6th. Army in Stalingrad before Paulus's surrender?
@@Alex_Guy1011 I believe that "Wiking" was part of Manstein's relief offensive to break the encirclement.
_A l;ittle remark to the good, old Scho-Ka-Kola:_
_In the original, these were not individual pieces, but 2 round plates per can _*_. . ._*
Some of the most interesting things to read about that though is from some of the Allied newspapers commenting on Stalingrad especially the British press
If he has a metal canteen cup you can use the candle to heat up water for the soup, tea and fake coffee.
Even though I have seen this movie many times, only now am I wondering, why are they burning those bodies, wasting invaluable fuel?
As long as it was freezing, no worries about corpses spreading stench and diseases.
I guess that it mentally screws u over to see your dead friends laying all over the place, maybe cause of that?
@@cherchil Could be.
But it's also a movie so sometimes scenes are arranged and shot just because they make great visuals. Ice cold, snowy landscape, blazing fire of burning bodies.
Like the tank slowly driving over a poor German soldier, when in reality tanks sometimes did target single soldiers but in one instance during the Battle of the Bulge, the German tank driver just drove his tank on top of a foxhole, then kept it stationary for a few minutes, untill the poor American GI in the foxhole had suffocated from the exhaust gases.
But that doesn't make nearly as terrifying a picture as a tank slowly and deliberately driving over someone.
Maybe if you did it right the candle could be used to heat some water....Take a few bricks and some loose dirt to prevent the flame from being seen by the other side. 🤔
I wonder if the beef tallow is edible, if indeed that is what it is. Perhaps as an emergency ration...
Exactly what I thought, I would eat it in desperation.
WOW! I have been a ardent student of the War on the Eastern for decades! This is the most
fascinating video I have ever seen! Reading many accounts from Guy Sajer, to Wolfgang Faust.
I know the sufferings and deprivations the German soldier suffered. This gives a glympse of
what happened to the soldiers circled in Stalingrad. Interesting point, Stalingrad was never
a focal point of Case Blue in Spring, Summer 1942! The oil fields of the Caucas was the major
focal point.! Hitler was a shit head off as a commander! Diverting troops from the main
objective to capture Stalingrad. Oh well, past history now!
Stalingrad became the consolation prize when they realized Baku was WAY out of reach. Same thing happened in 1944… Bastogne became the consolation prize when Antwerp was out of reach. Failures both times.
So what would you do you’re in Stalingrad and you get this, do you scoff it all in one hit or make it last as long as possible?
Logically you want to savor it a bite at a time. Realistically you shovel the whole thing in your mouth and swallow without chewing.
That's the funky thing about the "Reich"
Back then, Sgt Schultz was holding down the "fort" back at the Stalag so supplies didn't get through !
I’m watching this while waiting for pasta at Olive Garden
I only go to Olive Garden on Veterans Day.
Would the candle not have been used to heat their soup ration? Guessing their Esbit supplies were too low at that stage.
This might have been issued elsewhere on the Russian front, but the logistics of the Stalingrad airlift were already failing so they wouldn’t have been brought n.
Happy to be wrong if you have a source?
Can we buy these?
Wonder what was in the lime dip slurry they dipped U-boat bread in after baking. It was able to keep bread unmolded for months, in the humidity of a submarine...
_Ahem, _*_"MONTHS"_*_ the German submarines were rarely at sea. For the usual Type VII boat, 45 days of patrol were considered a very long time. In his novel "Das Boot" Buchheim describes what the bread looked like, lots of mold, little edible _*_. . ._*
That’s awesome is there somewhere that sells a modern version of them. Or is that a genuine article? I’d buy some in a heartbeat.
Yes there is. I unfortunately can't remember the name of their site though. I would Google repro WWII German rations. Should come up
The candle was to heat water for soup and coffee.
candle is for boiling water for soup and tea to
Schokakola brachte mir mein Vater von der Conti mit, ich war ein kleiner Junge und nachdem wir den Film - Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt - gesehen hatten, wo Schokakola zu sehen war, wollte ich sie unbedingt probieren. Damals waren es noch runde Tafeln, keine Stücke. Der Geschmack war mir zu bitter. Vollmilch kam erst später.
MREmountain makes decent repro german WWII rations including a Christmas box (currently out of stock)
A true lesson in field dinning.make no mistake 🥩
where's my pervitin?! you been digging thru the rations again havent you?!
I guess if the candle was largely tallow you could eat it.....(shudder)
Where do you get these rations?
I’m interested in trying the meals soldiers ate in the past.
Also what would you do if you could make your own mre for a fighting force?
Candle ( for heating up water in a covert fire pit )
Hail victory.
Where can you buy this ration’s?
Im guessing we all saw SteveMRE eat a legit original Scho-Ka-Kola on his channel...Kind of a shame to open it, but now we know what it was like...aint nobody giving food reviews back then...
Another interesting chocolate take is regarding the British 1914 "Princess Mary Christmas Tin"...most of these contained cigarettes, but a few, for nurses for example, had chocolate.
I started talking to a historian out west, Mr. David W. Love. He has gone into great detail in his book on the Tins about how the idea came to be, the hoops Her Majesty went through, the design, the contracts, and so on.
Mr. Love also has probably the only remaining examples of the chocolate that was issued to nurses.
Can you IMAGINE the mental discipline to NOT wolf down a piece of chocolate in 1914?
Perhaps it was so rare a treat, that she (since it was likely a nurse) wanted to save it for a family member. It's not like today where you can't escape the stuff!
Just watched "TIK" Stalingrad Finalle. 'Starvation'. Totally horrible outcome for the enlisted men shortly after getting their Xmas present. No doubt the Italians, Romanians and Hungarians were left out .. 💀
By late 42, the Soviets were probably getting better comfort rations and many US litems too
Wheres the tube of pervin
This stuff looks brand new. The paper isn’t even browned.
The Russians did capture substantial quantities of supplies. I’m sure that Paulus did not go hungry.
Nope. Paulus was a mess when he was captured, nervous ticks, suffering from dysentery, but he and the other senior officers were well fed.
Maybe the candle was to heat water.
#1 you gotta do your tea differently. Just improvise a bag. You could use a clean piece of cloth and string (cheesecloth) but for a soldier a piece of bandage or uniform maybe. For an equivalent just take a coffee filter and make a pouch and secure it with butchers twine (string) or a washed rubber band. If you want an “authentic” soldiers cop of tea that is… lol. You could use that same pouch for multiple brews and then wash and dry and reuse it. #2 Just a thought. If they indeed sent “lard” candles. Beef tallow. Crisco. Whatever. You would in no way be “burning” that candle. Not in Stalingrad. I’d be putting it into my soup and or on my piece of bread for the day. #3 Great video. 👍🏻
So it wouldn't be Authentic if the Tea was made as in the Video ?
And if the Tallow was rancid, you certainly wouldn't eat it !
@@iac4357 When you’re truly starving… you’ll eat anything.
the candle is to heat the ration, no?
It's a good thing you didn't light that candle. CZcams would have flagged your video for violence.
I’m guessing there’s a pun here… fire?
Might want to get with your sound editor...
I thought The ‘candle’ looked like something from Reeses!!!!!:/
Are these not Hindenburg candles for bunker lighting? low smoke tallow and wax mix maybe? Cheer pagans up at julefest 21 december midwinters day or christians christmas eve. Great report content.maggi items are still around today
The Tea is probably linden leaves
I wish your video would be linked to some other photo than 2 waffes-SS soldiers especially considering the topic...
Field rations reguardless of variety get stale after a very short while. Any augmentation to the field menu is highly encouraged to positively effect moral.
Very true. In Iraq on sundays sometimes we would get steak and lobster tails. The steak was so tough that it could not be cut with the plastic knives they gave us, so you just had to pick it up and bite chunks off. After a week of MREs and powdered eggs, it was pure heaven.
So the Tea looks like weed. Well their chocolate has meth
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So you can eat the beef tallow candle for extra fat content
Open the tin box with yout thumb placing it at 6 o clock Position.
Not much fun in Stalingrad.....I probably would have had to eat the candle.
i have to mention you cant get the original schokakola anymore ;) no meth in sweets ;)