     It was Christmas Day in the Ardennes. All over the battlefield, people were trying to celebrate in whatever tiny ways were possible. The GIs of the 30th Infantry Division donated their Christmas parcels to the civilians of Malmedy as a gesture of consolation for the two American bombings of their town. They were to endure one more bombing on Christmas Day itself.
     In Germany, some American POWs received Red Cross parcels containing cigarettes, sugar, powdered milk, oleo, jelly, biscuits, Spam, corned beef, salmon, raisins, cheese, and chocolate bars. They would have to last a long time. Many new POWs were still sitting in railroad cars with nothing to eat. Since railroad yards were prime strategic targets, some were killed by Allied bombs.
     In Bastogne, Christmas Day brought some respite to the defenders. The Germans launched only a few attacks. This was not due to any sentimental considerations; the German supply situation was so desperate that it was impossible to organize any kind of attack. Some of the Americans gathered in the bombed-out church and sang Christmas carols. In the command post, they even had a Christmas tree.
     In a small house near La Roche, northwest of Bastogne, Baron Hasso von Manteuffel, the commander of the Fifth Panzer Army, was eating his Christmas dinner: captured American K-rations. He considered himself fortunate. The American food was tasty, and his old stomach couldn't handle the normal German rations as well as it once did. He lifted a glass of powdered orange juice to his adjutant. "Froliche Wienachten!"
/Rations
     Soldiers have to eat; because of the heavy physical exertion a soldier performs, his caloric requirements are high. And when you put him outside in the snow for days at a time, his needs grow even higher. Supplying these caloric needs can be a huge task. The German Army calculated the maximum rations allocated to combat soldiers to be 4 pounds of food, broken down as follows: rye bread: 1.5 pounds; meat: 0.3 pounds; vegetables: 0.5 pounds; potatoes: 0.7 pounds; sugar, beans, powdered milk, etc: 1 pound.
     These were maximum figures. In practice, the German soldier's diet was starchy and unhealthy, with lots of carbohydrates (bread and potatoes) and very little protein or fresh vegetables. All too often, even this was not forthcoming. For the Ardennes Offensive, the Wehrmacht needed to supply its soldiers with a million pounds of food every day -- that's 500 tons. Given the terrain, the icy road conditions, and the Allied fighter-bombers, this was beyond their capabilities. The starving landser scrounged whatever they could, eating captured American rations with relish.
     The American system was more scientific. Rations were allocated based on caloric and dietary content. The C-ration was a kit of canned foods including such items as orange juice powder, a kind of cheese omelet, powdered milk, and Spam. The K-ration was an emergency food kit containing dehydrated foods in packets. The food was not bad, and certainly abundant; nobody went hungry in the American army. Despite grousing about the lack of variety, the American soldiers at the end of the war were strong and healthy. The incidence of dietary-induced disease in US ranks was very low. The average German soldier at the end of the war was skinny and vulnerable to disease./