A German WWII Field Kitchen is Reborn (Grosse Feldkuche Hf. 13)
The Large Field kitchen (Hf. 13) - Die große Feldküche (Hf. 13)
I rescued this original German (Large) field kitchen from the elements in the summer of 2017. It sat in an old semi-collapsed barn/garage on a farm in Norway, where it had been sitting for about 60 years. The kitchen is 100% matching numbers (Main kettle, coffee kettle, and chassis), and was made by "dth" (Voss Works in Sarstedt,Germany) in 1941 with serial number 903. It was originally fitted with wooden wagon wheels, but was at some point converted to a mechanised version with rubber wheels. Whether this was done during the war or by the Norwegian army post war is uncertain. Luckily I was fortunate enough to find an original axel and wooden wagon wheels, including som other key parts to help restore this beauty back to her former glory. The field kitchen is currently undergoing restoration with good progress….
ABOVE: On the photo above you can clearly see the 3 layers of paint: Dunkelgrau, Dunkelgelb, and lastly post-war Norwegian green paint.
ABOVE: The inside still retains the original dark gray colour. It also still has the white painted numbers inside the lid in each compartment (all compartments were numbered and contained a list of equipment etc. - this list can be found in the field kitchen manuals).
ABOVE: A photo of compartment number 13, which contained knives, plates, etc (6 deep plates, 3 cups, 2 butcher knives, 1 sharpening steel, 1 meat fork, 3 can openers, 6 sporks). As you can see the wooden inserts and original paint is still present.
ABOVE: Above left is a photo of the main 200 liter kettle. It is in good condition and still retains most of the original Bavarian blue colored enamel and the cream colored lid (inside). Above right is a photo of the 90 liter coffee kettle - this also retains its original Bavarian blue colored enamel. Both will be re-enameled in its original colors and brought back to its former glory, so that this kitchen will be safe to cook from again.
ABOVE: The sandblasting reviled a very solid field kitchen.
HISTORY
Some history about the field kitchen.
The field kitchen was the backbone of the Wehrmacht - without food the soldier does not function…
Food Carriers and cooks (etc.) were often exposed to great danger, especially at exposed sections of the frontlines, and often, the field kitchen was dug in dangerly close to or right on the front lines. The food carriers often exposed themselves to danger much greater than the soldiers actually in the frontlines when they brought the food on their backs to them.
"We had no water, but we got cold tea in our canteens which was only filled once a day. When the food carriers came with the daily rations, they held their nose. They had been acting a little strange the last couple of days, but at first we did not realise why. We that had spent the whole time on the hill, did not notice the awful stench of rotting flesh around us. We had cleaned up the corpses around our position, but the corpses in no man’s land no one could do anything about. The corpses from one day got torn apart by exploding artillery ordnance and mixed into the soil the next day. The scorching heat during the day contributed to speed up the the rotting process of the corpses and body parts. We experienced that one gets used to bad smells fast, and did hardly notice it anymore."
There are many forgotten heroes among the cooks, verpflegung and ammunition carriers. Many eastern front veterans I have spoken to or read about, have always spoken highly about the brave men that supplied them at the front lines with food - and also of how good the quality the food was.
"I cant understand how they got the food out to us….. The food was always very good"
He took part in the famous battle of «Kaprolat» and «Hasselmann» in Karelia in the summer of 1944. About 200 young Norwegians fought against between 5-10 000 Russians. In total roughly 150 of the 200 Norwegians lost their lives during the 2 day battle (between 40-45 of these died later in captivity). It’s estimated that the russians lost over a thousand soldiers in this battle.
The food had to get to the soldiers on the front line, even under heavy fire and artillery bombardment in extreme cases.The cooks had strict guidelines regarding the food. It was to be of good quality, tasty, and the soldier had to be able to identify what he was eating (large enough chunks etc.). The sight of the field kitchen and a simple cup of coffee or tea could do wonders for a soldier morale in tough times. In Narva in 1944 the soldiers received tea and coffee to fill in their canteens, because most of the water could be contaminated and therefore had to bee cooked.
"It was during the retreat from Oranienbaum to Narva in the winter of 1943/44 that we fought our way back to Narva (retreeded). It was so cold during the night, and we could not make a fire nor did we have any tents. Out of concern for the safety of the men sleeping we cut our nightly guard duties to only 2 hours sleep and two hours guard, so that the guys sleeping did not freeze to death - Normally it was the other way around. We had winter boots and the padded camouflage uniforms, and we slept in the open on som pine branches. After many days of marching, fighting and freezing everybody started to get pretty worn out. One of our nightly marches i remember very well. We had not received any food for some days, and everytime we stopped to rest I fell asleep, although it felt so real, I walked over to the field kitchen with my squads mess kits to fill them up - finally… I can still imagine/remember that same amazing smell of that goulash! The cook filled up the mess kits and I returned to the guys. When I sat down to eat, I was just about to eat my first spoonful - I could feel the warm steam on my face, the smell and the heat from the soup. Just before I was able to taste it I was woken by a kamerad - we were marching of again, and it was just a dream. The exact same dream continued many many times - everytime we stopped, and it felt just as real every time."
He was awarded the EKII after a big battle where he was one of only 12 remaining in his company. He also lost his older brother during the fighting. He later received Panzerkampfabzeichen in Bronze in Narva…… He is still a good friend of mine to this day.
