1. EATING CATS AND DOGS: RATIONS OF AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN SOLDIERS ON THE ITALIAN FRONT Rok Stergar Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana

2. IMPORTANCE OF FOOD Average daily energy expenditure of a reasonably active 25-year-old is 2500- 3000 kcal In extreme weather conditions or with maximal exertions it can reach 6000 kcal Energy reserves must be replenished by eating and drinking When daily intake is less than 2000 kcal, negative physical and psychological effects start to appear almost immediately

3. MILITARY LOGISTICS BEFORE THE WAR Growth of armies and new weapons are putting a strain on logistics Positive developments:  Railways  Development of food processing (canning, condensation, and evaporation) Tactical-level logistics still depends on the work of animals and men

4. AUSTRIAN PREPARATIONS Local procurement New equipment Iron reserves „… each soldier was burdened with a knapsack containing emergency provisions in the form of tinned meats, coffee extract, sugar, salt, rice, and biscuits, together with various tin cooking and eating utensils.“

5. WAR STARTS: FACING REALITY Abundance of food in the first weeks Poor mobility of supply columns Local stocks of food get depleted quickly „Here in Włodzimierz there is nothing. Russians were here for five weeks and then Germans and now us. There is not a kilogram of flour in the whole village and a few, only a few potatoes.“

6. AFTER MAY 1915: THE ITALIAN FRONT Static front Better infrastructure Weather Intensity of the fighting „Because nobody could show his head during the day, they brought us food only at night.“ „There were periods when we did not eat for three days, because all of those who went to get food were killed or the bombardment was so intensive that you could not show your head.“ „Men looking for water do not care if dead bloated horses and dead comrades are lying in those puddles. It makes no difference that it is strictly forbidden to use the fluid that looks more like coffee than water. They not only drink the poison themselves but they also fill their bottles with it and bring it to their comrades. Hunger is bad but thirst is much worse. Today we are repelled if we remember the things we drank then. At the time, we drank that black fluid with the same delight we drink wine or beer today.“

7. MODUS VIVENDI Ad hoc local ceasefires Systematic harassment of the enemy at mealtimes „Trink und labe dich, doch bleib nicht steh'n, weil der welsche Feind dich hier kann seh'n.“

8. FOOD SUPPLY IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY Declining production Problems with distribution Inefficient coordination between Austria and Hungary

9. EFFECTS ON THE ARMY Deteriorating food supply from 1916 Attempts to partially rectify the shortages Own production of food Substitutes Consumption of previously unused parts A short period of relative abundance after Caporetto „We are starving through the [Easter] holidays. Yesterday, there was no bread and no lunch; they allowed us to eat a portion of biscuit and one tin from our reserve. … Every third day we get our daily ration of bread for the previous day and 5 dekagrams of biscuit. Every third day we get some beef, on other days we chew on tins.“

10. DIFFERENT ROLES, DIFFERENT FOOD Soldiers, NCOs, and officers Cooks, officers‘ servants Frontline soldiers and Etappenschweine

11. FORAGING, STEALING, AND HUNTING Buying and bartering Stealing Foraging and hunting Parcels from home Smoking „Our soldiers were freely killing dogs and making them into an addition to insufficient rations, Cats, however, were harder to catch and often a ruse was needed to take care of them.“ „We usually smoke cigarette after cigarette … only to forget our dear empty stomach.“

12. 1917/18: HUNGER „Our desperation just grows and grows and it will reach its peak shortly. … I traded a ball of black thread for a liter of beans. Křiž traded fifty cigarettes for a kilogram of corn flour. Now, we are cooking the beans and polenta. Křiž is so famished that he is crushing raw beans and eating them like bonbons; he was licking the uncooked flour at the same time.“