Catering troops
The catering troops were a branch of the Swiss Army . As part of the logistics and the rear services (“services behind the front”), they were responsible for the replacement system (supply depots) and the supply and return . They were dependent on their civilian suppliers ( degree of self-sufficiency , compulsory stock ) and national economic defense ( elections plan ).
prehistory
The food portion of the ancient Romans consisted mainly of a cereal ration of around 850 grams of wheat grains in the form of bread and wheat polenta. Each combat group carried a hand mill on the pack animal assigned to them.
The armies in the Middle Ages got by without supplies. Everyone had to provide for themselves. Went on a campaign of catering, food and horse feed were in the local population requisitioned and four acts .
Up to the 15th century the war sack ("Habersack") of the Confederates mainly contained roasted oats. Meat played only a minor role. In 1712, the Zurich city doctor von Muralt demanded in his "Soldier Diet" that every soldier should receive a bottle of brandy .
At the time of the Franco-German war, the meat portion became the core of the soldiers' catering. Before the time of Napoleon I , only the Bern and Zurich estates in the Confederation had supplied their militias with meat (the "sparrow") in addition to pay and bread.
Beginnings of the catering troops
The Confederation in 1815 created a common "top military commissar" (OKK), while the rear services (parking companies, food magazine, hospital Pferdekuranstalt) remained with the cantons.
According to the “General Military Regulations for the Swiss Confederation” of 1817, the troops from the cantonal armories had to be equipped with cookware and field equipment. In 1843 squadron cooking utensils (per train ) were provided for the joint preparation of catering, as well as a pocket knife , a spoon and a canteen for the individual soldiers.
The mobile kitchen of the Scherrer Neunkirch company tested in 1877 was introduced to the field artillery in 1880 as a two-wheeled mobile kitchen. In 1898 the soldiers received the Gamelle as single cookware.
Artillery mobile kitchen 1880
Equipment truck kitchen 1903
Driving kitchen of the pontoon battalion 2
Field kitchen border occupation 1914–1918
In 1903 the six-horse equipment car kitchen (at the same time a blacksmith's shop and kitchen) and the battery car kitchen were introduced. The improved battery trolley Kitchen 03 (traveling kitchen orderly 1909) the Federal Konstruktionswerkstätte Thun (K + W) was 1,909 infantry , the Engineer Corps and the higher forces rods discharged. Soup with "sparrow" became the most popular dish in the military kitchen.
The baker's tents were part of the corps of the catering troops even before the First World War. The introduction of a cooker (fireplace with kettle and fireplace) with equipment for mounting on trucks took place in 1939.
Capacity column
Passenger column at Zollikofen station
Catering is provided by the catering department
Bakery tents around 1913
Second World War
During active service , each army unit (divisions, mountain brigades) had a catering department. This consisted of two catering companies , two Subsidiary -Verpflegungs detachments and a motor transport column with a capacity of 100 tons. The department had a fleet of 550 men and 50 motor vehicles. From 1942 the kitchen trailer was pulled by motor vehicles. The 15 and 25 liter self-cooking boxes were converted from wood-burning to gasoline gas burners.
The task of the supply troops included the feeding of people and animals of their army unit. This included the procurement, storage, production and distribution of bread (baking) and meat (procurement of cattle for slaughter, slaughtering, storage) as well as the other food and feed for the troops. The supply troops organized the supply and return of supplies, material (clothing, fuel, lubricants, ammunition), the exchange of wounded and sick people, field post , and veterinary service. These important facilities and systems had to be guarded and protected militarily.
During the Second World War, horses and the railroad were mainly used for transport. Deliveries by the army were made by rail to the division's transshipment point and from there they were carried to the troops in horse-drawn vehicles. The logistics infrastructure in the Alpenreduit was decentralized because the few railway lines and roads did not allow fast transport. The troops picked up their needs at the nearest logistics base and were only exceptionally supplied.
Kitchen trailer 1942
Kitchen trailer in operation in 1942
post war period
After 1945, logistics became part of overall defense (army, civil defense , war economy ). Supply bases supplied the “basic supply points” (BVP) located close to the combat units (up to 20 kilometers). From 1953, the High War Commissioner was responsible for purchasing and managing fuel.
The logistics units of the Army 61 made up a third of the entire team. With the TO 1961 troop order, the supply troops were given the new designation supply troops and expanded tasks.
The combat units of Army 61 had permanently assigned operational rooms. Maintenance, repair and procurement of spare parts were the responsibility of the troops (basic and specialist workshops). A dense network of BVPs (bring principle) supplied the troops in their area of operation. The logistics were operational even in peacetime, as short advance warning times were expected. The available supplies amounted to one ton per soldier in 1978 and were housed in 5500 buildings and underground facilities (including 50 hospitals) around 100 kilometers in length. In 1969 the “sub-group logistics” was created, which belonged to the territorial service .
With Army 95 , the number of supply places was halved (transition to the fetch principle) and the baker, miller and butcher units were dissolved. Six supply regiments with medical , veterinary, supply, material and transport troops as well as the field post service were responsible for the logistics .
For the Army XXI was Logistics Brigade 1 (Log Br 1) created 13,000 (delivery principle). It was subordinated to the logistics base of the army (LBA), which is responsible for the entire logistics and supply of the army.
With the 2005 armaments program, the previous range of materials used by the catering service was replaced by material that complies with modern hygiene regulations.
Modern field kitchen equipment
Catering company
The catering company had the necessary equipment to be able to ensure the supply of a section of the front on its own. This included a mobile mill and a mobile field bakery.
Thanks to a special treatment with an alcohol solution, the new army bread developed in the 1950s by the «baker general» Walter Kuchen (wholemeal box or shaped bread) could be stored for at least two years. It was also called "atomic bread" by the soldiers. In the newly created bakery in Boltigen , 20,000 loaves of bread could be baked every day. In addition, 168 mobile bakeries were introduced in 1960 (mob BK 60) and 16 mobile mills for flour supply.
The mobile bakery 60 was able to deliver 4000 bread portions of 500 grams within 24 hours with a baking team of four in three shifts. It was housed in a ten-ton truck trailer that was equipped with a kneading machine, dough pan, work tables with scales, proofing room, three ovens with a total of 9.6 square meters of baking area, cold water tank, hot water preparation, water mixing tank, and power generator. The ovens could be heated with diesel, wood or coal and the machines could be connected to the power grid or operated with an electricity generator. The ingredients were carried on the truck that pulled the trailer. The BK 60 mob were sold with Army 95, 60 of them to the Ukraine .
The butcher's team of five at the butcher's shop had to be able to cover the daily requirements of a division with 20 cows. All by-products were also used at the improvised slaughterhouses.
The catering company was able to hand over all catering items, including fresh vegetables and potatoes, to the troops that were seizing the truck. She had ten magazine tents with 50 square meters of storage space each. The storage area where the handover took place during the night was 10 to 20 kilometers behind the front. Because the seats were the preferred objects of enemy artillery and air force, they had to be changed frequently by the catering company, well camouflaged, completely secured and kept secret.
The militiamen of the catering troops were recruited from the following professions: butchers, bakers, magazines, cheesemakers, chefs, merchants and accountants ( fouriers , accounting officers).
Mobile bakery 60: oven with loaf of bread
Mobile bakery 60: kneading machine
Mobile mill
Catering in the high mountains
See also
literature
- Ralph Bircher: Soldiers' food. The military man's diet then and now. Wendpunkt Verlag, Zurich 1936.
- G. Bühlmann: The development of the catering and administrative service of the Swiss army. Art. Orell Füssli Institute, Zurich 1916.
- Mobile kitchens, field kitchens and kitchen fort for the Swiss Army. In: Association of the Swiss Army Museum, Bulletin 1/2009
- Roland Haudenschild: Fourier and military chef for more than 200 years. In: The backbone of the army. The NCOs of the Swiss Army and their work from 1798 until today.
- Hans-Werner Salzmann: History of the Swiss Army: Development of the catering troops. In: Heroes are hungry too. Field post of the catering troops. Morgana Edition, Berlin-Schönefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-943844-61-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ralph Bircher: Soldiers' Food. The military man's diet then and now. Wendpunkt Verlag, Zurich 1936.
- ↑ Soup with sparrow from the Swiss army kitchen. Swiss Television SRF from October 18, 2012
- ↑ [1] Christian Jaberg: In the normal case Holprinzip, the basic supply point (BVP) a military supermarket. ASMZ Security Switzerland. General Swiss Military Magazine, Volume 158, Issue 10, 1992.
- ^ O. Meyer: Modern replenishment. In: The Fourier: official organ of the Swiss Fourier Association and the Association of Swiss Fourier Assistants, Volume 21, Issue 12, 1948.
- ↑ Swiss Army: Bk Anh 60/68 2-axled Merz / Moser
- ^ Romeo Brodmann: The bread from cake. Atomically good. An obituary for the baker general. Pauli Magazin from September 8, 2017.
- ↑ Herbert Alboth: Our catering troops: the comrades from the light green weapon. In: Schweizer Soldat: Monthly magazine for the army and cadres with FHD newspaper, Volume 29, Issue 17, 1953–1954.
- ↑ Ralph Bircher: Soldiers' Food. The Fourier: official organ of the Swiss Fourier Association and the Association of Swiss Fourier Assistants. Volume 9, Issue 8, 1936.