Military Field cooking Equipment history and development

Whoever said I can't cook probably hasn't tried my cereal yet !

The following is a work in progress. It is not a definitive guide, but is a researched starting point.

I got curious about the numbers of the British Army portable cookers, and why there's a gap between Number 7 and Number 12. So I started putting this web page together. It's been an interesting journey, that continues to reveal information from numerous sources around the globe.

I hadn't realised that suitable cooking equipment was so important. so - 

An overview of the British perspective.

In the days of old, when knights were bold - The Lord of the manor formed his army, they marched to the edge of the decided battlefield - with the women in tow. They camped and were fed by the women. Then, in the morning, the two sides went onto the battlefield, and charged at each other. At the end of the fight, they went back to their lines, the wounded cared for, and food given to the hungry.

Then there was the wars abroad, where the permanent army was marched, sometimes for days to reach the objective. The regiments stopped at night, and whilst it took hours to cook the food, the cooking equipment might not arrive for hours after the regiment had camped and the tents had been pitched. The day after the final day's march, the army would then form up on the battlefield, and the other side would charge the square. As the Peninsula war against France in Spain shows, the issue then came that when there was insufficient ammunition, troops, etc, that the regiment would retreat - often with the enemy snipping at their heels. No time to cook food, as they pressed on to reach safety - and no equipment to cook food on the move. 

In Crimea, we see the Russians dug in, and the British laying siege - and using the modern invention of railway to transport troops, food and supplies from the port to the front line. There, the need for a decent camp stove was much needed, and Alexie Soyer's Field Stove was significant. That field stove was still in use during Gulf war 1.

But the issue remained that there was no equipment to cook food whilst on the march. The 2nd Boer war again shows the use of a railway as a life saver.

Come the first World War, and the British have decided that Kitchens, travelling, to cook food on the move, and to keep it hot without spoiling until the halt would be needed. Numerous narrow-gauge railways were used to move supplies to the front, but there were minimal cooking equipment at the front, due to smoke giving away positions. The need for insulated containers starting to become an obvious need.

With the second world war on the horizon, and the development of motor vehicles, (tanks, trucks, etc) petrol was the fuel of the day. It was thought that this war would be moving across the country, compared to the first war being months of stalemate. A range of petrol fuelled stoves, burners and ovens were developed. Insulated food trasport containers were also developed. But interestingly, the requirement for Kitchen, travelling as a way of cooking food on the march was reduced. There is evidence of units taking enemy travelling kitchens so that food could be cooked, and be ready for the moment that a convenient break could be taken - but importantly, the food could still be cooked by taking it with them if they had to leave the position due to enemy action. There are photographs of the RAF having kitchens mounted in the back of trucks, with the cooking containers secured and usable during transit.

All modern equipment is designed to cook food whilst stationary. But the improvement on insulated containers, and fast mechanised transport makes it easier to cook in safety, and transport food to the units.

Is there still need for travelling kitchens? 

I think that depends on who has the air superiority, to defend positions in the case of an attack during meal times.

In an attempt to try and make this vast topic make sense, I have tried to split it into 5 clearly different sections. It's still evolving.

Those groups are on separate pages, thus :-