Ambrosia, thou art become

D/DLI 7/424/3(16) Photograph of an open area surrounded by fences with various officer prisoners, Lieutenant Farquharson is indicated on the far left, Graudenz, West Prussia, Germany, October 1918

In 1918, Captain PHB Lyon, 6^th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (The Second Battle of Ypres - 6th Battalion) was taken as a prisoner of war.  After moving around for a while, he eventually stopped at Graudenz [now Grudziądz, Poland] on the Vistula River.  He kept a diary, written up in 1919, ‘A Diary – Seven Months of Captivity’ [D/DLI 7/424/3].  One of the most common topics covered is food.  The lack of it, and the poor quality (and difference) of what was provided led to a lot of effort being made to improve it and eke it out. 

27 June

“By all agreed to be a wonderful day; the wonder being of course eatable and drinkable.  …[Received emergency parcels for Ruhleben camp] and as a result we today have issues of biscuits (15 per head), sugar (lump, fairly plentiful), & tea.  Also tins of sardines, one between 2, are forthcoming from the canteen.  In the evening the Ruhleben cases actually disgorge BULLY, and the mess gets 4/15 of a 7lb tin!  “Oh Bully, in our hour of ease, Too brackish dry and hard to please, When pangs of hunger rack the tum, Ambrosia thou art become!”

D/DLI 7/424/3(24)  A mess food menu 

captioned: 'One of the first of the 
daily menus of 'mess 94'!, Graudenz, 
West Prussia, Germany, 29 July 1918

 18 July

“In the evening we get a jam issue from the canteen, nearly a pound a man, at 1 mark apiece.  Quite good stuff too, though highly fermented & very ‘turnipy’…”

19 July

“…a red-letter day in the food line, for the room as a whole and for me especially.  I was asked to tea by Waydelin, the OC parcel [officer commanding the incoming parcels], who messes with Colonel Corfe & Major Jiminez.  They were all getting parcels & produced butter, English marmalade, ‘Vi’ cocoa, white bread, toast, & Garibaldi biscuits.  They finished tea in about ¼ hour, and then sat round and delightedly watched me feed!  I made a real pig of myself, and felt absolutely full for the first time since capture.”