Compo Boxes

Designed to meet the needs of fourteen soldiers for one day, the contents of Compo Boxes (Composite Ration Packs) were identified by a letter of the alphabet. Their contents consisted of Standard Items (edible and non-edible) and Pre-cooked Food Items, the latter varying from box to box, most being packed in tins of various shapes and sizes. The Contents/Menu sheets listed foods that could be consumed hot or cold and, if the former, pre-heating times. In a wonderful piece of sheer whimsy, they even gave the menu for the day - breakfast, dinner, tea and supper!

With a crew of five, additional rations (for the fifteenth man) came from squadron cookhouses in the form of tins of evaporated milk, et cetera.

The boxes were lettered to indicate the variable content. For example, A boxes contained tinned fruit, F and X boxes tins of Spam, et cetera. In the photograph above can be seen the wooden crate in which Compo rations were packed.

Contents Standard - Edible:
    Tea/sugar/powdered milk mixture - 3 tins
    Biscuits (hard tack) for breakfast, tea and supper - 1 tin
    Margarine - 1 tin
    Salt - 1 tin
    Sweets (candy to a US viewer) - 2 tins
    14 x 2oz slabs of chocolate

Contents Standard - Non-edible:
    Cigarettes - 7 per man
    Matches - 14 small boxes
    Soap - 3 tablets
    Toilet paper - 3 sheets per man (Later increased to 6)
    Chlorine tablets
    Instruction/Menu sheet

Variable Contents:
Precooked Food Items - listed as best I can recall by intended meal
   Breakfast:
       Bacon - 2 tins
       Sausages - 2 tins
       Spam - 3 tins
       Powdered Eggs - 1 tin
   Dinner:
       Corned Beef - 7 tins
       Soups various - 12 tins
       Meat and Vegetables (the infamous M&V) - 7 tins
       Steak & Kidney Pudding - 7 tins
       Vegetables: Peas, Baked Beans, Tomatoes, et cetera - number of tins varied
       Puddings: Rice, Treacle, Sultana, Plum Duff, et cetera - 7 tins
       Fruit: Crushed Apples, Pears, Peaches et cetera - 7 tins
   Tea:
       Sardines or Pilchards - 8/4 tins
   Supper:
       Cheese - 1 tin
       Cocoa, sweetened - 1 tin

Notes:

Compo boxes were better received by tank personnel than they were by the infantry. The former had better cooking facilities and the problem associated with the fair distribution of contents was virtually non-existent. Later versions of the boxes endeavoured to make the contents more readily divisible. For example, the number of tins of soup was increased from twelve to fourteen.

The making of a decent cup of tea was impossible with chlorinated water. We heard, towards the end of the war, that boxes came with tea leaves packed separately from the powdered milk and sugar. Not ever having received such a box, it may have been a rumour.

For non-smoking crews (as was mine) cigarettes were great for bartering purposes. Contents were often swapped with soldiers on special diets - for example, sardines were readily traded with Indian troops.

Often a box would contain letters of encouragement from the ladies who packed them. On occasion, letters contained offers to knit an item, such as a scarf or balaclava helmet, for any soldier who cared to respond.

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