A field kitchen is a mobile unit that serves hot food to soldiers in the field using different types of fuel. It evolved from a small horse-drawn cart to a truck-based design, providing comfort and camaraderie to soldiers and boosting morale. It often travels with a mobile shower truck and provides mess kits and rations.
A field kitchen is a truck or trailer that is equipped to prepare and serve food to soldiers while in the field. By using different types of fuel, from diesel to coal, to heat food, a field kitchen is able to serve various types of hot food to those who otherwise could not get hot food. A throwback to the chuck wagon that provided meals for cowboys, a field kitchen offers comfort and camaraderie to soldiers who have often spent a lot of time out in the elements.
Reportedly one of the most frustrating and demoralizing aspects of spending time in the field for a soldier is the lack of hot, fresh food. The field kitchen was initially designed as a small horse-drawn cart. Using wood, coal or coal oil as fuel, mobile kitchens served stews and soups to starving soldiers. One of the disadvantages of having a field kitchen nearby was the smoke that often filled the sky above the wagon. Enemy artillery would commonly focus fire on the area near the smoke, inflicting injuries on those attempting to take hot food.
World War II saw the evolution of the field kitchen from a small trailer to a truck-based design. As a self-contained unit, the field kitchen is a much more mobile unit capable of moving around at a moment’s notice. The truck-type galley is capable of moving back and forth from front to rear lines to be resupplied, providing food, water, and ample coffee for soldiers serving in the forward areas. In some locations, kitchen trucks also carried fresh socks and occasionally gloves, boots, and other gear. Ammunition was not carried on trucks for fear of making them a higher priority target for enemy sharpshooters and artillery.
British troops during World War II used mobile kitchens for serving tea and as a morale booster. Many armies have given nicknames to their respective field kitchens. The German troops called the field kitchens that supplied them with hot food, “Gulaschkanone”, or goulash cannons. This was due to the chimney’s similarity to the weapon when tilted down for travel. American troops often referred to their kitchens as cans or mess trucks.
The field kitchen often traveled with a mobile shower truck. This gave the soldier the opportunity to eat and take a shower. Many kitchen trucks also provided mess kits and rations for the soldier to take with him and eat in the field.
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