The content described in this article is based on official and reliable sources, which are repeated at the end of this article.
As the old saying goes, "Before the soldiers and horses move, the grain and grass go first", food is as important to soldiers as fuel is to vehicles, ammunition is to weapons.
Therefore, how to ensure the adequate supply of food for military personnel every day has always been an extremely important issue in the development of the armed forces of all countries in the world.
And China's secret compressed biscuits, which can make an adult male last for two days with just one piece, can be said to be an indispensable "artifact" in individual rations!
How exactly were compressed biscuits developed, and can you really eat one piece without going hungry for two days?
The history of the development of compressed biscuits in China
As early as the Napoleonic period, in order to solve the problem of meat food that was not easy to preserve on the march, Napoleon did not hesitate to offer a reward of 12,000 francs, just to find an effective way to preserve food for the army.
The last chef, Nicolas Appel, finally made the world's first canned food after repeated trial and error.
Later, the Englishman Peter Durand invented the process of encapsulating food with tin cans, for which he also obtained a patent.
As a result, canned food has become a standing ration for armies of various countries due to its non-perishable characteristics, and the famous Spam luncheon meat in the United States during World War II is the most obvious example.
Individual combat rations for American GIs at that time
Of course, this period also gave birth to many more advanced individual rations, including compressed biscuits, which are very anti-hunger contained in individual rations in almost all countries.
However, because China's industrial strength was relatively weak at that time, it did not have the ability to produce food for individual combat.
The machine gunners and sub-shooters of the volunteer army eat fried noodles, which should be a Czech light machine gun
So much so that later, when our volunteers participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea to defend the country, the logistics department could only use fried noodles as a substitute for compressed biscuits.
Compared with compressed biscuits, chow mein is not only nutritionally unbalanced, not easy to carry, but also has a shorter shelf life.
An Apple story
Although fried noodles helped the comrades of the Volunteer Army solve the problem of food and clothing, due to the lack of vitamins, the soldiers suffered from night blindness and other diseases.
It was also in this context that there was a touching experience of the logistics personnel in Shangganling, who had to transport the only few apples to the front line regardless of life and death.
However, under such extremely difficult conditions, our volunteer soldiers still defeated the invincible United Nations army and won an unprecedented victory.
After the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, we have profoundly realized the importance of logistical support.
Therefore, with the blessing of the First Five-Year Plan, we, who already have a certain degree of industrial capacity, have also begun to develop a new type of individual combat rations that belong to China.
After continuous research, the army's logistics department soon developed two kinds of "compressed dry food", 701 and 702.
This compressed dry food is packaged in a large green iron drum with a built-in lid, which is filled with ammonia and tinned and soldered, so it can be used normally even in hot and hot tropical areas.
During the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, in order to solve the problem of insufficient taste and nutrition of 701 and 702 compressed biscuits, the mainland developed the famous "761" compressed biscuits.
This compressed biscuit accompanied our officers and soldiers to participate in the famous self-defense counterattack against Vietnam and the subsequent "Two Mountains Wheel Battle".
At that time, our soldiers carried a large number of compressed biscuits of this type into the front-line battlefield, and everyone praised the "761" compressed biscuits.
This is because milk powder and a lot of fat are added to this compressed biscuit, which makes it very sweet and delicious.
At the same time, the most important thing is that this biscuit is very full, and one pack can basically meet the physical consumption of the fighters all day.
This is all because this compressed biscuit is made of wheat flour, vegetable oil, sugar, milk powder, glucose powder, salt, etc.
And in order to improve the taste of compressed biscuits, we also deliberately produced a variety of different flavors such as milk and coconut.
It is understood that the daily dry food quota for a class at that time was a bucket (20 packs, a pack of 250 grams) "761" compressed biscuits.
It can be said that 701, 702 compressed dry food and 761 compressed biscuits have an irreplaceable position in the hearts of many soldiers.
So much so that the military logistics department has launched an improved version of 90 compressed biscuits and 05 compressed biscuits, but their influence has always been inferior to the previous three.
Modern individual combat rations
"Restricting food types and nutrients can lead to rapid weight loss, which can lead to loss of strength, decreased stamina, lack of motivation, and decreased mental alertness. ”
This is a passage written on the packaging of American military rations, which shows that food has an extremely important impact on the performance of soldiers.
"Food" here refers not only to the food that can fill the stomachs of the soldiers, but also to enable the soldiers fighting on the front line to easily ingest the various elements needed by the human body - individual combat rations.
In fact, the 761 compressed biscuits launched after the 701 and 702 compressed dry food have actually been aware of this problem.
Therefore, the 761 compressed biscuit will add high-protein ingredients such as meat on the basis of the original materials.
And after these years of development, in addition to all kinds of compressed biscuits, our army logistics department has also developed more military rations suitable for use on various battlefields.
The state has put a lot of effort into making sure that the soldiers on the front line can eat as well as possible when they are full, such as dehydrated rice and canned vegetables.
At the same time, on the basis of the previous types of military rations, the mainland has developed Type 09 military rations and Type 13 military rations.
Compared with the previous ones, these two types of military rations are more nutritious, and you don't have to worry about nutritional imbalance even if you eat them for a long time.
At the same time, this military ration not only ensures balanced nutrition, but also contains rich calories, such as a small 09-style compressed biscuit, which can provide more than 1,000 calories for soldiers.
And in addition to compressed biscuits, there are also a lot of self-heating military rations in the individual rations for the soldiers to eat.
Take the 09-style self-heating military ration as an example, there are as many as 12 choices in terms of taste alone, and soldiers can choose noodles in addition to rice.
It can be said that to a large extent, the eating habits of fighters in different regions of the country were satisfied.
In addition to the above-mentioned staple foods, there are many non-staple foods in the 09-style military rations, including yellow peaches in sugar water, beef sausages, spicy sauces, etc., and instant coffee, sugar cubes, etc., which can be said to be quite comprehensive.
As a matter of fact, at present, the soft packaging canned food and dehydrated rice that are common in the mainland's fast food are all developed by our army in China.
To put it bluntly, these foods are fast food that condenses the meals of officers and men on the tables, and it contains rice, vegetables, and soup, which is very much in line with the eating habits of officers and men on the mainland.
However, no matter what kind of individual combat rations, it is not recommended that everyone eat them regularly and in large quantities in their daily lives.
First of all, compared with the last century, although the taste of most military rations has been greatly improved.
However, compared to freshly prepared food, there is a big gap in both texture and taste.
Compressed biscuits, in particular, taste like gnawing on bricks, and from a nutritional and health point of view, compressed biscuits are definitely not the best choice for us.
If a person consumes compressed biscuits for a long time, it can lead to malnutrition, constipation, anemia, and even the risk of stones.
At this time, someone will ask, then our fighters, are they not afraid of such a situation?
This is actually a cognitive misunderstanding of many people, in reality, even if the soldiers go out to do tasks, there is rarely a phenomenon of eating compressed biscuits every meal.
More often than not, compressed biscuits play the role of "emergency food".
Under normal circumstances, the soldiers' meals will be made by a special cooking class comrade, and even in the field environment, the omnipotent cooking class can make a pot of food with all the color and flavor.
Even sometimes the cooking class will "fry the sugar color", compared to a few decades ago, the diet of our soldiers can be said to be very good.
However, compressed biscuits are still a very important military item, and in many cases an indispensable emergency food.
Whenever natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods occur in a region on the mainland, compressed biscuits and other emergency foods are indispensable food for quickly solving the problem of food and clothing for the victims.
Friends who often follow current affairs should know that whenever a place is affected by a disaster, the first food to be delivered to the disaster area is often pressed biscuits and instant noodles.
With their own characteristics of "convenient and fast food", they can quickly get rid of the problem of food and clothing for the hungry and cold victims.
And compared with instant noodles that require purified water to eat, compressed biscuits are more "convenient", and their satiety is not comparable to instant noodles.
As mentioned earlier, an adult only needs to eat a compressed biscuit to maintain the energy needed for a day, and the compressed biscuit is also very portable and has a longer shelf life.
It is precisely because of these reasons that many people now put a few compressed biscuits in their backpacks when they climb mountains and travel, in case of emergency, and even some people often have some at home.
Although most of the various brands of compressed biscuits sold on the market will be slightly different in terms of materials compared to the compressed biscuits in military individual combat rations, they still give people a pretty good feeling of satiety.
Article sources:
China Network Television "Individual Rations of Various Countries", China Military Television "PLA Field Food: Balanced Nutrition, Radiation Resistance and Hypoxia Resistance", China Military Network "Eating is also Combat Effectiveness! These Military Foods Have Eaten the Taste of Actual Combat", China National Defense News "The People's Liberation Army's Field "Food", China National Defense News "Military Rations Are Not Only Hunger Filling, but Must Also Ensure Nutrition", China National Defense News Military Special Issue "What Kind of Food Will PLA Soldiers Enjoy in the Battlefield Environment?", China News Network "PLA Field Food Exposed". The metal box packaging is high-end.