STILL UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
Though some research was performed during 1934, it wasn't until a 1935 directive from the US Army Quartermaster Corp that a strong effort was put forth to find a replacement for the Armor Ration. Ration nomenclature and polices were under revision and development during the late 1930s. Therefore it wasn't until 1939 the chocolate bar was designated as Field Ration Type D and standardized as the official emergency ration of the US Army and Army Air Forces.
Initial procurement was in the summer of 1937 for 90,000 rations (270,000 bars). These bars were for testing purposes only. 600,000 rations (1,800,000 bars) were procured in late 1941. During 1942, approx 117,800,000 rations (353,400,000 bars) were procured. Most of these bars were stockpiled overseas. No bars were procured during 1943. In the second and third quarters of 1944, an additional 52,000,000 rations (156,000,000 bars) were ordered. This was the final procurement of this ration. For many years after the war, stockpiles existed.
Though the ration was intended for emergencies, it was used as meal supplement or replacement. In some instances, the ration was treated as a confection rather than a ration item.
Clearly, a ration of three bars with 1800 calories would provide enough energy to keep soldiers active while other foodstuffs were not available. However, the ration lacked the nutritional value to serve as a regular, long term ration.
The C ration was actually constantly undergoing changes and improvements since its inception in 1938. Therefore it isn't easy to summarize the major and minor changes succinctly. The first large scale procurement of the ration actually occurred in Oct 1941 when 1.5 million rations were ordered even though the C Ration was adopted and standardized in Nov 1939.
The Nov 1939 standard called for the larger 15 oz cans. During 1940, there was less than 500,000 of these rations ordered. All of these were intended for the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1940. The Nov 1939 standard strongly recommended that the cans be gold anodized on the outside to prohibit oxidation and increase the long term storage of the rations. However, the standard was not changed to require a gold anodized exterior until Nov 1941 (I think that was right) and then only for M units. Early in 1942, the standard was again amended to require all cans be gold anodized. Then in June 1944, the standard was again amended to require either OD lacquer or anodizing on the cans. However it is my belief, that there was overlapping based on existing stocks. So you may see gold anodized prior to 1941 and after July 1944.
As a result of the Louisiana Maneuvers, it was decided in Dec 1940 to reduce the can size to 12 oz from 15 oz. The 12 oz can remained the standard until the 1950s.
As for labeling of the cans, before Dec 1941, the cans were lithographed with the contents and packager on the side of the can. There is no evidence of a standard color of the label, but our research has shown M units marked in red or black and B units marked in either blue or black. Cans were embossed on the lid with the month and year of packaging. In Dec 1941, the packager was required to remove his name from the label and emboss the lid of the can. Some manufactures were embossing the lid with their name, so in the early part of 1942, clarification was announced to ensure that the establishment number and not the name was embossed on the lid with month and year. In Dec 1942, all B units were required to have the label lithographed on the lid of the can while M units could be on the side or lid.
There was actually some accusations the government didn't want the companies to get free advertising, but it seems for reasonable to me that is not the case. Embossing the lid with the establishment number does a couple of things. First, the lithographed label could be rubbed off making it difficult to attribute a can to a specific company in the event of manufacturing or quality defects. However the downside to this was that to much embossing could weaken the lid and result in damage to the contents of the cans.
With all that said, the set that contains all gold cans with side labels represent only 1942 production. Even though the 12 months doesn't seem like a long time, 1942 had total production requests of approximately 77 million rations. The rations produced in 1942 and 1943 were most of fighting men of the United States Armed Forces saw and consumed during World War 2. Compare this to less than 500,000 15 oz can rations and less than 15 million 12 oz silver can rations.
Also, realize that this is only a quick summary of the changes to the outside of the can. Believe it or not, the contents of the cans are just as complicated, if not more so.
The following is a table showing the approximate number of C Rations contracted by the War Department during World War II. As a reminder each ration consisted of 3 M Units and 3 B units.
MONTH
NUMBER OF RATIONS
Oct. 1941 1,500,000 Dec. 1941 4,500,000 Jan. 1942 10,000,000 July 1942 775,000 Aug. 1942 8,225,000 Sept. 1942 19,000,000 Oct. 1942 15,000,000 Nov. 1942 7,000,000 Dec. 1942 17,000,000 Jan. 1943 6,000,000 Feb. 1943 6,000,000 Mar. 1943 1,245,000
For shipment overseas, the C Rations were packed in a nailed wooden box. The box contained 8 rations (48 cans). The cans were arranged in two layers of 24 cans separated by chipboard. On one end of the wood crate was the typical solid cresent and stated US Army Field Ration C, 8 Rations, with the weight and cubic displacement. On the front side of the crate was marked with the packager's name, contract number and date of packaging.
K Rations were originally developed as a parachute ration intended for airborne troops. However, the ration was quickly adopted for widespread usage.
Only three menu items were available, Breakfast, Dinner and Supper. Each meal included a canned "meat" component; biscuits or crackers; chocolate, fruit or cereal bar; beverage powder; gum; toilet paper and other goodies.
There was several variations to the design of the meal cartons, but only two designs were widely seen. The most common is the "camouflage" or "morale" style. It is the late war pattern adopted in 1943. The outer carton for each meal had a unique design and color. It was designed to add variety, but most importantly, to enable the individual to quickly determine the meal. With the limited selections, it seems it was important that somebody wasn't stuck with just one type of meal.
The second most common was the plain brown outer carton. It designated the meal on the outside, but did not indicate the contents nor offer any advice to its usage. These were made from late 1941 through 1943.
The early trial style of outer cartons were also plain brown, and had the name of the meal as well as the early contents printed on the outside. This style actually had a meat component that was in a rectangular type tin rather than the round tins found in later K Rations.
Generally, the inner cartons remained consistent throughout the war. The inner cartons were dipped in a solution of paraffin and bee's wax to seal from the elements and protect against chemical agents. The outer carton was used to protect the wax from the inner from rubbing off and prevent inner cartons from sticking together in a shipping crate.
K Rations were shipped in a chipboard box over-packed with a wood shipping crate. Each shipping crate contained 36 meals or 12 rations. A crate weighed 40 pounds and displaced 1.2 cubic feet.
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