In addition the sheer banality of continuing war is alluded to, and a sense of late war fatigue which began to grip Britain at this time; reference is made to miners striking for better pay, and shipyard workers stealing iron rations from lifeboats, resulting in the deaths of torpedoed sailors.
12.
One iron ration and two days'special emergency ration for each man, and 21 pounds ( 9.5 kg ) of grain for each horse, was carried on the trooper's horse, with an additional day's grain for each horse, carried on the first-line transport limbered wagons.
13.
The Column was to " protect the right of the infantry from an advance by the enemy in and beyond the entrenchments at Atawineh and Hareira on the Gaza to Beersheba road . " They also had orders to exploit an infantry breakthrough and attack Hareira on the extreme right, and they carried rations for the next day along with an iron ration.
14.
We washed and shaved carefully in order to look our best before Fritz . . . Our equipment was inspected for the last time : Gas-masks, rifles, ammunition, shaving kit, iron rations-everything was OK . Some of us were presented with an extra gift-mine was a big and heavy bag containing a dozen or so Mills bombs!
15.
Submarine patrols were long voyages and many times the crew finishing up on " iron rations " of poor food as their food supplies ran out, so Lockwood made great strides in providing for rest and recuperation ( R & R ) for his sailors when they returned to port, such as two-week stays at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, and crates of ice-cream and leafy vegetables to greet returning submarine crews.
16.
By using it as an iron ration, it might have sustained a soldier for about three days . The weight of the buccellatum is estimated to have been about 3 kg, which, given that the wheat rations would add more than 11 kg, means that without the corn, the soldier would have carried around 30 kg ( 66 lb ) & mdash; or much the same weight as today's soldiers.
