An army marches on its stomach

Storage of large quantities of corn and flour to be used by the local garrison was a major problem in fortresses. Plagues of mice and rats ravaged the supplies. To solve this problem, special units of fortress cats were set up to protect granaries from rodents. Often after their term of service was over, they would retire, be fed by the army and taken care of by old soldiers. In Napoleonic times apart from bread, which was the basic food (the daily ration of bread was 850 g), soldiers would also get about 300-400 g of beef, mostly dried and salted. However, since there were no vegetables in their diet, many soldiers dies, particularly in winter. It lasted till vegetable preservation techniques were developed and soldiers’ diet became more diverse. Until this dietary revolution, brought by Napoleonic troops, soldiers would get most vitamins from non-pasteurized beer which had high nutritional value.