Confectionery in WW2 rations
I had not been able to find any accounts of confectionery being involved in war rations, aside from the American soldiers. Do not make a mistake in thinking that the chocolate rationed was like ordinary chocolate though, especially being a military design. The US Military wanted an emergency ration, not a treat for the soldiers, and so they put forth a set of requirements to an American confectionery company (Hershey) for the bar. Among them being:
1) the bar must be temperature resistant so that it would not melt in the field
2) it must provide approximately 1800 calories
3) it must taste only slightly better than a raw potato
4) it must weigh 113 grams (4 ounces)
The military needed the bar to taste bad most of all, the reasoning being that if the bar tasted even remotely good, soldiers would consume the bar anytime they felt like a sweet treat, rather than saving it as an emergency ration.
Hershey lived up to its reputation and was almost too good at the assigned task. They created the "D ration bar".
The bar was indeed temperature resistant to about 49 degrees Celsius, it provided the requested calories, it tasted horrible, was hard to eat, and caused indigestion on most occasions. They even made it resistant to poison gas through the packaging. In the field the bar was rarely eaten, instead soldiers would throw the bar away or if possible, traded to anyone who did not know just how bad it was basically anything else. The bar was also hard and brittle, even those with good teeth and jaws had to shave off slices of the bar with their knives.
The bar was so bad that soldiers referred to it as "Hitlers secret weapon".
Because of this, the bar was pretty much a failure for the army. Though it was a great success to Hershey. Hershey received no less than five awards of Excellence from the US Government for the bar and its variations over the years.
1) the bar must be temperature resistant so that it would not melt in the field
2) it must provide approximately 1800 calories
3) it must taste only slightly better than a raw potato
4) it must weigh 113 grams (4 ounces)
The military needed the bar to taste bad most of all, the reasoning being that if the bar tasted even remotely good, soldiers would consume the bar anytime they felt like a sweet treat, rather than saving it as an emergency ration.
Hershey lived up to its reputation and was almost too good at the assigned task. They created the "D ration bar".
The bar was indeed temperature resistant to about 49 degrees Celsius, it provided the requested calories, it tasted horrible, was hard to eat, and caused indigestion on most occasions. They even made it resistant to poison gas through the packaging. In the field the bar was rarely eaten, instead soldiers would throw the bar away or if possible, traded to anyone who did not know just how bad it was basically anything else. The bar was also hard and brittle, even those with good teeth and jaws had to shave off slices of the bar with their knives.
The bar was so bad that soldiers referred to it as "Hitlers secret weapon".
Because of this, the bar was pretty much a failure for the army. Though it was a great success to Hershey. Hershey received no less than five awards of Excellence from the US Government for the bar and its variations over the years.