This French re-enactment group, Association Eperon 132 based in Crouy, Aisne, had restored a German WW1 Field Kitchen unit, type Hf11.
This piqued my interest, so I started with a look at the Association's Facebook page.
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| This is how they found it |
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| This is the kitchen after restoration |
Then I looked for general info. The kitchen is designed with a 200 litre stew pot, enough for a hungry battalion. It was designed to allow the food to cook whilst the troops marched so at the end of the day, the troops would have a hot meal ready when they camped. It also has a 90 litre coffee pot. I believe the German troops nicknamed these "goulash cannons".
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| This field kitchen is at the Australian War Memorial |
Interesting - amazing what is still lying around. Mention of Crouy sent me to my maps - we had a family holiday some years ago at Vic-sur-Aisne, and - though my detailed historical knowledge of WW1 is sketchy, and though my son's attention span at that time would not have permitted much military site visiting - I was very much aware of what a focal point this area had been in the fighting. It was hard to avoid, with bullet-holes in the garden walls down the main street in Vic. I planned to visit the cemetery at Bois Robert but - of course - we decided against it. I did take a day out to drive up past Soissons and along the Chemin des Dames, but I was sadly unprepared, and didn't really know what I was looking at, though I enjoyed the run.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to go back there sometime - especially if they are digging up goulash cannons! Nice post - thanks.
Thank you for your note. We drove along the Chemin des Dames a few years ago to visit the Fort La Pompelle. We stopped at a few monuments and then at the Museum of the Cave du Dragon, locked the car and went in....just as three coaches of school kids arrived...so we thought "no, not this time, maybe next time".
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