Horses, Artillery and Anzac biscuits

Horses and mules played a large part in World War 1 and they also played a vital part in New Zealand ‘s Field Artillery.

In fact the artillery were the second largest component of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, after the infantry. Those horses must have come from tough stock , as horses and mules were used to tow vehicles stacked with shells and this was no light feat.

They transported them from shell dumps behind the lines to the gun positions.

Gunners, as they were called, were the young men that played avital role in the First World War, working in teams on field guns, usually grouped in batteries, to deliver a concentrated barrage. It was a dangerous and demanding job. Not only were they being targeted by enemy batteries, the work was physically punishing, and they were also at risk of shells exploding prematurely in the barrels of their guns.

Soldiers in the trenches were alwaysi n constant danger and the prolonged bombardment really shook the nerves of these young men. They often emerged from the trenches numbed and hardly able to be audible from fear of imminent death by shattered shell fragments or from being buried alive.

The artilery units used wheeled cannons, known as field guns to destroy enemy forces. The New Zealand forces on Gallipoli initially included a single artillery brigade, with a second added in July 1915. Each brigade comprised three or four batteries, each of which had around 185 men operating three or four field guns.

In early 1916 the artillery expanded to four brigades, including by the addition of three trench mortar batteries.

Cloth patches were worn by by the New Zealand Fields Artillery’s divisional ammunition column.The cloth patches were sewn on the back of the uniform jackets and this commenced in October 1916 as a way of identifying which unit or part of a unit an individual belonged to.

The Anzac Biscuit

“Biscuits! Army Biscuits! Consider the hardness of them. Remember the cracking of your dental plate, the breaking of this tooth, the splintering of that.”

(From “Army biscuits” by Ormond Burton in “The ANZAC book”)

Does this bring to mind images of our troops at Gallipoli eating the Anzac biscuits we know and love today? Contrary to widespread belief there were no Anzac biscuits at Gallipoli. The standard Army biscuit at this time was a rock-hard tooth breaker also called a ship’s biscuit.

Although it is a myth that Anzac biscuits were sent and eaten by troops in Gallipoli, some evidence suggests a rolled oat-based biscuit was sent to troops on the Western Front, although this is not widespread.

The majority of rolled oats biscuits were in fact sold and consumed at fetes, galas, parades, and other public events at home, toraise funds for the war effort. This connection to the troops serving overseas led to them being referred to as “soldier’s biscuits.” Fundraising was coordinated by local Patriotic Funds, raising 6.5 million pounds for the New Zealand war effort. The basic ingredients for a rolled oat biscuit were rolled oats, sugar, flour, butter with golden syrup, not eggs, used as a binding agent. This made them not only nutritious and full of energy but also long lasting.

After WWI, the most popular rolled oat biscuit had the name and association of Anzac applied to it and thus the legend of the Anzac biscuit began.