Towards the end of the war, German troops were often poorly supplied with food, weapons, and ammunition, and sought to scavenge whatever they could in order to increase their combat effectiveness, or even just to get along in their daily lives. There does not seem to have been much thought in taking "trophies" to be sent home during this period, although some American items were prized by German soldiers.
The M1 carbine proved to be a popular weapon among German troops, as they did not have an exact equivalent, the weapon being a light (5.8 pounds loaded) carbine firing a large pistol cartridge from a fifteen-round magazine. In official German parlance, captured M1 carbines were designated Selbstladekarabiner (semiautomatic carbine) 455(a), the "a" standing for Amerika, or "American." Ammunition supply for captured or annexed weapons proved to be a problem unless it was put back into full-scale production again (for example, see the various Czechoslovakian tank designs co-opted by the Germans), Outside of carbines found in a mishmash of enemy weapons issued to "last ditch" German forces in Denmark in 1945, there did not appear to be a systematic program of storage and reissue of captured carbines, although it is very likely they, like any captured weapons or vehicles, were taken to be examined and tested. Many photos exist (one of the shots being very widely reproduced) of German troops of the task force Kampfgruppe Hansen (part of the 1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler") utilizing captured M1 carbines during the Battle of the Bulge after they had ambushed a convoy of the U.S. 14th Cavalry Group near Poteau, Belgium; a more gruesome photo shows American dead lying at a crossroads stripped of their boots.
German troops were also envious of U.S. rations, as the extremely large scale of Unternehmen Wacht Am Rhein stretched their supply systems to their utter limit as many a German soldiers went several days without food. The horse-drawn field kitchens (Gulaschkanone, or "goulash cannons," as their tall stove pipes resembled cannon barrels) attempted to provide as much hot food as they could, but carrying parties often became lost in the woods and when the food arrived (the usual German ration of bread and pork sausages to put in the bread bag, or hot soup if the kitchen could be emplaced) it was cold, if it even arrived at all. The German soldier in the line usually lived on the "iron ration" or eiserne portionen, consisting of canned meat (of which there was actually quite a variety, from pork, beef, sausages, to even horse meat), packaged dehydrated vegetables or pea sausage, packaged biscuits or crackers, coffee, and salt, similar in concept to the American K-ration , but much simpler without most of the accessories. The vegetables, salt, and coffee were usually kept with the field kitchen to lighten the grenadier's load, and he would only carry the meat and biscuits or crackers with him in combat. These rations often had to be eaten cold, as the smoke from a cooking fire could attract American artillery or mortar fire. As the Battle of the Bulge dragged on into January, the German food supply system broke down completely.
Hebert Brach, 6th company, 2nd BN, GR916, had this to say after finally receiving his first German rations in days, “When we had reached the foot of the hill, there stood a soldier with a loaf of bread in his hand, cutting off slice after slice, which our men practically tore out of his hand, for we had waited six days for rations, since the supply train could not be brought closer because of enemy fire. And this slice of bread was welcome to us; we were practically starving, and this bread tasted wonderful.”
Grenadier Brach was equally appreciative when his unit captured an American ration dump, for the American K-rations contained things unknown in any German portions, such as canned eggs, dried fruit, candy, hot chocolate or fruit-flavored drinks, gum, toilet paper, and cigarettes.
Hebert...was very well pleased upon finding U.S. rations, “In the village (Bettendorf) itself, we appropriated an American food and clothing storehouse in a convent. Now for a pleasant change we had enough to eat. Everybody feasted on the tasty U.S. field rations, and nobody asked where our field kitchen was.” Brach continued with another account of U.S. rations, “In Bettendorf the grenadiers had stuffed their pockets, food bags and assault packs again with food from an undestroyed US ration dump. In fact, some of them had even rounded up old baby carriages and milk carts and filled them with food…That evening, after several days, the field kitchen finally came to Diekirch to supply us with hot food, but nobody was hungry, thanks to the tasty delicacies from much sought after-American rations. The supply chief himself came on the scene and was annoyed to have to take the watery stew away again.
The Germans also obtained local food, such as fruit, bread, meat, and potatoes, from the cabinets or cellars of abandoned houses. Very late in the war, the Germans issued in limited numbers what essentially amounted to a direct copy of the American K-ration, containing in a small cardboard box, among other items, candy, cigarettes, chocolate, dried fruit bars, and biscuits.
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