ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the practical challenges of provisioning rank and file soldiers on the Western Front, and considers some of the problems of supply encountered by the army and their men. The army had established its right of access to food supplies, but although the principle had been accepted, it would take time for the necessary provisioning processes to be established and in the interim men went hungry. Logistical problems influenced provisioning: food that occupied the least space and had the longest shelf-life was best, at least in terms of supply. The chapter explores the practical aspects of army provisioning, and in terms of energy values, the rations were usually sufficient. The army's achievements given the scale of operations were significant, but it is only part of the provisioning narrative. For the civilian soldiers, the rations were distressingly different from their pre-war eating and an inescapable reminder of the military existence forced upon them.
