In general I think soldiers of any nationality would drink whatever that they could get their hands on as many already mentioned and consequently they often drank what the locals were drinking, eg. danish ss-veterans from div. Nordland tells that during their time in Croatia they were drinking huge amounts of the local slivovitz.
The higher ranks obviously had much more possibilities to choose, it seems quite common that German high ranking officers were supplied with all the most exclusive stuff like french champagne, cognac, mosel wines etc.
A good example is the fact that when the Germans surrendered in the Stalingrad kessel, and the 6th army had already litteraly eaten nothing for weeks, the Russians stil found large amounts of exclusive spirits in the generals staff quartiers.
At least during the first years of the war, ordinary German soldiers were also supplied alcohol from home on regular basis, what they were sent probably depended on their home region,
Based upon memories from Danish veterans it seems as if Steinhäger Schnaps has been a favourite amongst Danish volunteers during the Freikorps Danmark time
There should be some photos somewhere, I'll take a look.
Not sure where the pic with the accordion is from, but the others are all N. Africa, with the middle 3 being part of a lot all showing a unit on R&R, whilst the last one is my father in the Desert and says on the back "the wine bottles were full".
Another two from the lot mentioned above, no booze shown, but they have a homemade drum kit and megaphone. Notice the DAK symbol on the base drum/jerry can.
In our excavations of both rear area and Front line positions in Estonia we find large numbers of all sorts of bottles,they bear out that the troops like all soldiers of any nation would drink anything they could get there hands on , bottles of spirits , french champagne , Estonian vodka , wine , beer ...... etc etc.
The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )
1st July 1916
Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader
Many German troops had to settle for substitute coffee most of the time, and had a well known nickname for it (that I will not repeat here), which referred to its poor taste.
by Woolgar
The famous 'ersatz Kaffee' !What is the unprintable name Carl ? Nick
by TIGER88
I'll PM it Nick, it is rather offensive.
I think I know what you mean. Funnily enough, that term only sounds offensive to English speakers, but not at all to German ears... Its etymological roots actually are in the perfectly harmless French term Mocca faux = "fake coffee".
Anything they could get there hands on I guess. Have attached a picture of two of a bottle maked up for German consuption only. I have a few other spirit bottles which are marked up in a similar fashion no doubt used here in Jersey in one of the Soldatenheims on the Island.
I can talk only about the Ostfront and German side. There was possibility to buy some Marketender alcohol but not too much. For example wine, rum, cognac, champagne, vodka, german schnaps etc. It was maybe 1 time in a month and you got only 0,7-1 l strong alcohol. During the Christmas and other holidays soldiers got some extra but they still had to pay for it and the quantity was limited. It was also possible to bring some alcohol to the frontline after the vacation and it was possible to get it by feldpost but of course not too much. Of course it all depended where you served. When in frontline Your possibility to get some alcohol was limited. But in the rear it was quite easy to get something.
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