Chapter 58: The Number One Cuisine in the World - American Food

  I didn't feel the slightest joy at having taken down the ruined city hall of Serburg. Looking at the city hall building, which was already shrouded in thick black smoke, I sighed and said to Miller, the talking machine gunner: "Tell them that I've now taken control of the city hall, and after replenishing our ammunition, we'll consider our next attack plan!"

  "Conti," said John, "why don't you suggest to headquarters that we follow up our victory? This is a good time!"

  I pointed at the still burning building and said: "Do you see? They didn't escape, nor did they disperse. How can we pursue a victory?"

  John was taken aback, but immediately reacted and understood that my words meant the Germans had decided to fight to the death with you. If you launch a risky attack, not only will there be heavy casualties, but it's also possible that the entire army will be annihilated. Now our military strength is strong, so as long as we adopt a step-by-step approach, we can win. John said somewhat disappointedly: "It seems we still have to fight slowly!"

  "Don't worry, the Germans will be defeated soon!" I comforted John.

  "Reporting to the superior officer, the defensive line has been fully established, shall we continue the attack?"

  Just as I was about to speak, the higher command issued the next order.

  "I am the commander of S1 unit, your unit has gone through a fierce battle and now occupies the city hall. I demand that you immediately replenish ammunition on the spot and continue to coordinate with other units to advance northward!"

  "Yes!"

  I took a lap, counted the casualties of our troops, and glanced at the few Sherman tanks parked nearby as temporary strongpoints. I muttered to myself: "Hmm, not bad this time, the casualties aren't that heavy! It seems that having armored vehicles and not having them is quite different! I wonder how it's going on the other side? I really want to bring these two armored divisions to China and see if the little devils' trash "iron cans" are hard or not! Hmph, even if they're the best tanks of the little devils, they'll probably have to roll over to one side!"

  Suddenly, a picture emerged in my mind. On the vast Chinese battlefield, I led nearly 100 Sherman tanks in an armored group to charge at the Japanese devils. The Japanese armored forces resisted desperately, but their best tank's armor was pitifully thin, no more than 30mm thick, and was shamelessly crushed by the early model Sherman that could penetrate anyone on the European continent. I couldn't help but burst out laughing!

  Jones looked at him intently and said, "Captain, what are you smiling about?"

  I pulled Jones and pointed at the Sherman tank, laughing: "What do you think of our tanks?"

  Jones curled his lip in disdain and said, "What's the big deal? Compared to German tanks, it's far inferior! I heard that at first, our main battle tanks couldn't even penetrate theirs, so we had to hide behind infantry and shoot from there!"

  Although Jones' statement is a bit exaggerated, others say that it's just because the Americans haven't grasped the concept of armored warfare yet. However, I personally believe that the Allied generals and marshals weren't incapable of learning or studying the German and Soviet concepts of armored warfare. It was due to special conditions that constrained the development of this tactic in the Allies.

  At that time, the tank weapons of the Allied forces were inferior to those of the Germans in terms of performance. For example, the Sherman tank was only equipped with a 57mm tank gun, which was inferior to the German Panther and Tiger tanks in terms of armor, accuracy, and penetration power. It wasn't until the Allies were equipped with the more powerful 76mm cannon towards the end of World War II that they were able to counter the German Panther and Tiger tanks effectively.

  The German Tiger tank was most famous not only for its appearance and the thickness of its frontal armor, which reached over 100 mm, but also for its onboard 88mm anti-tank gun, which was unparalleled in power. Usually, one shot could destroy a Sherman tank, while the Sherman tank, whether it was an early model or a later modified version, had to go around to the side or rear of the Tiger tank to destroy it. This made the Allied tank soldiers extremely fearful, and even the commanders of the Allied tank units refused to carry out such orders.

  For example, during World War II, Germany's tank ace Otto Carius alone destroyed 178 tanks of various types and over 100 artillery pieces and anti-tank guns. Although his achievements are less well-known than those of Michael Wittmann, he faced the Soviet armored groups with the world-famous T34/85 and the Soviet advanced IS2 heavy tank as opponents. Among them, in 1944 on the Eastern Front, his most famous battle was the Battle of Malinovo Village and the Western Front's famous Pokaki Village Battle, which can be said to be "nothing is impossible". On that day, he and his partner destroyed nearly thirty Soviet armored tanks, including seventeen IS2 heavy tanks and four T34/85s. If he were to be put on the Western Front instead of facing his absolute opponent, the IS2 heavy tank, it's estimated that he could have destroyed the Allied tanks with their thin armor and weak firepower, such as the "Churchill" and "Sherman".

  Although this is only one person's achievement, it also fully explains that the German tank is indeed powerful, so the Allies cannot use the Sherman's simple weapon to collide with the German-style tank cluster, and the Germans can completely destroy the Allied armored troops' morale with a strong armored group. Therefore, the Allies cannot and will not use this tactic, they can completely replace the tactical needs with other forces, such as using their own air superiority to eliminate the German armored group targets.

  The Allies' approach led some modern military researchers to believe that the US military was still in the early stages of infantry tanks, unaware that the US and Allied commanders were unable to use tank groups like the Soviet Union did at Kursk against the Germans! Because they didn't have the right weapon!

  I laughed and said: "If we weren't here but were fighting against the little devils from Japan in the east, this guy would be invincible in tanks!"

  "Jones was skeptical: 'Just because of this big guy?'"

  I nodded and said: "Yes!"

  "But I've heard that fighting with Japanese is mostly hand-to-hand combat!" Jones said.

  "Japanese? Of course, those short and ugly ones look like a mad dog, apart from biting people with their mouths, they don't have much ability!" I said viciously.

  Jones didn't know the situation in China at that time, but he said: "It's a pity that those despicable Chinese can't even beat these little dwarfs, and they still come to our America to borrow money every day! It's simply a waste!"

  I heard Jones say that, although it was the real idea of American society at that time, I still started to feel unhappy in my heart. I said: "Jones, I want to correct your attitude. If China hadn't held back 90% of Japan's power with all its might, the Japanese would have probably reached America long ago! Don't forget how the US troops stationed in Australia were beaten back! That was a force less than one-tenth of the Japanese!"

  "My retort left Jones speechless for a moment, and he could only say: 'We don't have many troops stationed in Australia!'"

  I shook my head and stopped talking about the issue, he couldn't convince Jones, and Jones couldn't understand him. This was a difference between two people from different countries and ideologies, not something that could be explained in just a few words, especially now during wartime when there wasn't much time to think about it. I changed the subject: "Let's not talk about this, how is the troop replenishment going?"

  "Reinforcements are being rushed over here and it's estimated that the troops will be redeployed in about ten minutes!"

  "That's great! Still the same words, try to bring as many hand grenades and flamethrowers as possible!" I said.

  Jones took the lead and I pulled out the battle map to start studying our next move. After a while, my stomach was growling with hunger, so I stood up and rubbed it, sighing wryly. It was already almost seven o'clock, which would have been dinner time in the past.

  I recall the food standards of Americans, and can't help but secretly admire them - they're rich, damn it, they're really rich. Even on the front lines of battle, the US military's quartermaster corps would rack their brains to supply soldiers with coffee to drink, not to mention chocolate, Coca-Cola, chewing gum, and field rations, which were a few comforts that American officers and men couldn't do without during World War II.

  The self-proclaimed "second-line team" of the United States did not enter the war on a large scale until 1944, with 40 million troops going abroad, and amazingly drinking away 1 billion bottles of Coca-Cola in one year. The American soldiers, who appeared to be carefree, always chewed chocolate and gum wherever they went, and even distributed them to children around them when they were happy. Those Western Europeans who had been reduced to poverty by the war disaster looked on with envy. Moreover, in this field ration box, there were not only bread slices coated with butter, canned meat, salad dressing, but also two "Camel" brand cigarettes and three matches, which could be smoked after meals.

  Just before going into battle in the morning, I had a main breakfast made of egg powder, prepared by the logistics soldiers in various forms, including baked pancakes made with flour and egg powder, which not only looked like flying saucers but also surprised me to find that they were almost identical. The "tropical butter" issued by the army was difficult to melt no matter what method was used because it was designed to withstand any environment without spoiling. However, the bread was freshly baked on the spot by the chef, but it was too coarse and only suitable for making French toast or egg powder bread. Although there were sometimes oats, I felt like they were sticky like glue.

  During World War II, the United States had an abundance of war supplies, demonstrating its strong economic and technological power. American soldiers were equipped with multiple sets of khaki uniforms, woolen uniforms, work clothes, jackets, overcoats, down sleeping bags, leather boots, raincoats, and more.

  In the food sector, the most distinctive feature is the various types of canned goods. In 1937, the American company Hormel Foods Corporation first produced "canned luncheon meat", and during World War II, Spam canned luncheon meat became a major source of protein in the diet of Allied forces.

  I was fortunate to have shared the US military's menu, lunch and dinner, with canned food stewed prunes, heated meat hash on empty cans, most of the meat being Spam luncheon meat, also known as "mystery meat". Many active-duty personnel in the US military dislike seeing Spam luncheon meat.

  The surrounding American soldiers commented: "The cooks fried Spam for breakfast, served it for lunch as a meat product, and by evening it had been used in soup. No one knows what the men would have done without Spam to add variety to their meals." After the war, General Eisenhower himself thanked the Hormel Company for producing such an excellent product that helped to win the war. He jokingly added: "But I think you folks back home didn't quite send us enough!"

  It can be seen that recently I have been eating this meat and nothing else. As for the initial request to Captain Lum, it was because the soldiers were already fed up with this special supplementary meal of canned beef.

  However, the development of US military field rations was rapid. There were more than 20 varieties of field rations. Among them, Type C rations, also known as individual combat rations, were the most common and widely consumed by soldiers during World War II. It weighed about 3 kg and had 11 meals for soldiers to choose from, with 5 containing beans. The US military also developed special rations for special operations teams, including those engaged in jungle warfare and mountain warfare, known as Type B rations, mainly supplied to small units of 100 people.

  The US military widely used industrially packaged combat rations during World War II. The most common types of rations were C-Ration, K-Ration and D-Ration.

  The C-Ration was developed in 1938. The US military C-Ration was specifically designed to be used by troops in the field where kitchen facilities were not available, requiring a compact and lightweight food source that could provide three meals per day for an individual. The ration consisted of six cans (three meat and three bread) and an accessory pack.

  For example, I'm now carrying the M1 ration pack which includes ham, eggs and potatoes, meat and beans, chicken, vegetables. Of course, I also issued an accessory package. Damn it, the accessory package contains nine high-grade cigarettes, water purification tablets, matches, toilet paper, chewing gum and a can opener.

  Those captured German, Japanese and even British troops were especially envious of the US military's combat rations and cigarettes. After many US troops were captured after landing in Normandy, they took out their combat rations and ate and drank heavily, leaving the German guards who watched them stunned, because they had not seen such good food for many years.

  I couldn't help but say: Who says Chinese people like to eat? Americans are even more astonishing when it comes to eating!