Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 175, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1917 — BAKING THE BREAD FOR GIANI ARMY [ARTICLE]

BAKING THE BREAD FOR GIANI ARMY

Organization and Methods Employed in Preparing Staff of Life for Soldiers. * THEIRS IMPORTANT SERVICE One Million Fighting Men Require 4,000 Bakers to Supply Needs—- “ Frills” Eliminated While on Active Service. Washington.—A bakery company at war strength in the United States army is divisible into four sections of tliree units each. The sections are lettered A, B, C, and D, and the units are numbered from 1 to 12. In peace times there are nine units to a company, but for war service this is Increased to 12 units a company. One bakery company is designed to supply normally a force of the strength of a division ; a section, an infantry brigade, and a unit, an infantry regiment of war strength. The organization and equipment are such that each unit, section or company is complete In Itself, so that orders directing assembly may specify simply the number of bakery units, sections or companies required at a given destination and the authority to whom to report. The total enlisted personnel of a bakery company is 61, of a section 12 and a unit 4. Thus for 1,000,000 fighting men about 4,000 bakers will be required, the Baker’s Weekly states. Composition of a Bakery Company.

There is one commissioned officer in charge of a company, his title being assistant to the quartermaster; there Is also a chief baker, with the title of quartermaster sergeant or sergeant, first class; four assistant chief bakers, one for each section, w T ho are sergeants of the quartermaster’s corps; there are 12 bakers who titles of sergeant or corporal, each one being in charge of a unit, and eight other bakers for assignment to duty with the company or with detached subdivisions, according to the necessities of the case; 32 assistant bakers, are corporals or privates of the first class; two cooks for each company and two other cooks or general police make up the total enlisted strength of a bakery company. The commissioned officer in charge of a bakery company in the field is responsible for the operation of the bakery and the training and discipline of the personnel. He is responsible and accountable for all the results also, and can consider his work well accomplished when the men are well supplied with good bread both in camp and on tne inarch. The chief baker has general supervision of the bakery company and the field bakery. He keeps the company records, prepares bread-cost statements, and is general custodian of the supplies. The chief of each section Is responsible for the general efficiency, cleanliness, etc., of his section, and it is up to him to see that the bread produced is of the proper standard. He inspects each run of bread after it is baked and before it is put in storage. Each field bakery receives from the quartermaster general a complete equipment, which Includes,, for example, 432 bake pans, 36 folding bread racks, 4 ranges, and such other minor articles as axes, brushes, buckets, cans, hatchets, fire hose, measures, paulins/ scales, scoops, dough scrapers, etc. Field and Garrison Breads.

Bread used in the army posts in peace time is known as garrison bread. The term field bread is applied to a type of bread having a greater density, a thicker crust and a consequent higher capacity for retaining moisture than garrison bread. ed for consumption by troops at a distance from a field bakery. Garrison bread is used whenever the troops are not more than a day’s journey from the bakery. Seven runs of garrison bread can be made in the army - working day, insuring <a production of 1,512 pounds of br4ad to the unit, or 18,144 pounds to ■the bakpry company at war strength. Tn making field bread, it is possible to have seven runs in 16 hours, which is an average day’s work in the army field bakery. Seven runs will produce 1,008 pounds a unit each day, or 12,096 pounds for an entire company at war strength. An army division in camp at Galveston, Tex., for two years, composed of approximately 12,000 men, drew on the average about 8,000 to 9,000 pounds of bread a day. The field oven in which the bread is baked Is of the portable, knockdown variety. It will bake approximately 41,500 pounds of issue bread, or 2,000 pounds of field bread a day if operated continuously. Mobilization of the 4,000 bakers who will be needed for an army of a million men will take place gradually, being regulated according to the necessities. Army bakers will be required to bake many other things besides bread. Rolls, cakes and sometimes other delicacies are provided for the men when it is possible to do so, though/when the army becomes engaged in active field service the “frills’’ are eliminated in favor of substantial food. .