History of the Field Kitchen
The start of the field kitchen concept goes a long way back. The aim for these kitchens is to bring food to the troops at the front, they differ from the cooking spots behind the lines at the army camps. They move along with the front line troops.These vehicles are also known as battlefield kitchen, expeditionary kitchen and flying kitchen.
The first idea seems to be coming from Japanese or Russian origin. The early versions were kitchens or cooking equipment moved onto the front on four wheeled wagons. In 1892 a German named Karl Rudolf Fissler invented a mobile kitchen which was referred to as Gulashkanone or goulash cannon, the chimney made it look like a cannon. Over the years different types, small and bigger carts were built and updated, and although not pulled by horses but with horsepower they kitchens are used today by armies all over the world.
The Große Feldküche Hf. 13
The Large Field Kitchen Hf. 13 is an updated version of the Hf. 11 field kitchen which was used during World War One. The large field kitchen, Hf. 11 was replaced in 1935 by the structurally improved large field kitchen Hf. 13. From 1926 onwards a modified, flashy connection was constructed. In the event of a defect, it could now be exchanged with those of the machine gun carriages (If.), the communications vehicles (Nf.) or other vehicles. Newly manufactured vehicles also had the drawbar of the heavy field wagon (Hf. 2) and the extended tree trunks of the light field wagon (Hf. 1). This achieved a standardization of materials and equipment, which simplified maintenance and new purchases
The large field kitchen also included the front car, in which a supply of ingredients was stored. The car body of the front car of the Hf. 11 was made of wood, that of the Hf. 13 of sheet steel.
The centrally located food kettle had a capacity of 200 liters. The coffee kettle to the left held 90 liters and had two lids. The storage compartments on the right of Hf. 11, with flaps open towards each other, had given way to a roasting and braising device on Hf. 13, flaps open towards the food kettle.
Classification system
When researching German vehicles and armor you soon discover there was a classification system for most objects. Widely known are the Sd.Kfz numbers used with mechanised vehicles, or the Regelbau number for bunker types used in the Atlantic Wall for example. Lesser known is that the German army used these designations for their horse drawn carts as well.
In case of the Large Field Kitchen (Hf. 13) the Hf is an abbreviation for Heeresfahrzeuge or Army Vehicle and is used with the Bespannte Fahrzeuge class. The Bespannte Fahrzeuge is a reference to a horse drawn cart. When the German Army started the war in Europe many infantry vehicles were still horse drawn and most soldiers marched towards their goals, Kilometers on end through Europe and the plains in Russia… and back. Of course there was rail transport but marching was done plenty of times and for loads of soldiers. When marchine horses draw all kinds of carts with the columns, carts like these large kitchens or Große Feldküche (Hf. 13). or Infantriefarzeuge (If), communications carts or Nachrichtenfahrzeuge (Nf.) Artillery cart or Artilleriefahrzeuge (Af.) and so on.
In order to be able to use the field kitchen in the winter, it was loaded onto army sled 5. If motorized troops did not have a field cooker in their inventory, the large field kitchen Hf. 13 could also be loaded onto a truck, but the lead vehicle was no longer needed.
The large field kitchen can also be transported in the mountains or in the snow. For this purpose he was loaded onto the army sled, which was available from 1942. However, the wheels and axle had to be removed. Another alternative was to use specially made snow runners. These were wooden tokens with an attached box in which the wooden spoked wheel could be held. When the wheel was sunk into the wooden box, it was held in place with bolts. With this runner a ground pressure of 0.3 kg/cm² was achieved. The total weight of one runner was 18 kg.
This field kitchen, The Große Feldküche Hf. 13 – German Large Field Kitchen, was seen at the Tank Event in Oeselgem Belgium which was held in August 2024.