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In other words, compared with weapons and equipment and various types of supplies, cigarettes are also a necessity in times of war. Although everyone knows that tobacco is extremely harmful to people, it still has an irreplaceable role in war.
During the war, many recruits learned to smoke after becoming soldiers, and they were in a high degree of tension every day, in order to relieve stress and alleviate fear, the only way to get some comfort was through smoking. As the Belgian soldiers of the Allies in world war I said: "We can endure even if we are given bad food on the battlefield, but we absolutely cannot do it without tobacco."
Since ancient times, tobacco has been prevalent in the army, and the Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty once wanted to ban smoking, but Hong Chengzu immediately raised objections: Liaodong soldiers, smoke-loving, can not be prohibited. On a difficult battlefield, smoking bans is tantamount to forcing soldiers to mutiny. It can be said that tobacco has long become a favorite necessity of soldiers.
During the First World War, tobacco became the standard material for the troops of various countries, and in the trenches full of smoke and smoke, as well as the battlefield of countless comrades-in-arms, soldiers did not know whether they would have tomorrow, and tobacco became their greatest spiritual comfort.
Let's talk about the Belgian army during the First World War, in order to provide the army with a sufficient amount of cigarettes, the king of Belgium personally came forward to set up a "tobacco foundation" for the soldiers, and raised tobacco money for them through various financing methods.
According to incomplete statistics, in 1917, its soldiers consumed about 10.5 million cigarettes, and as for other countries, in the case of Britain, France and other countries, in just two years, soldiers consumed 143 million cigarettes, which did not contain additional tobacco.
In the Second World War, cigarettes became a sought-after commodity for various countries participating in the war. Taking the German army as an example, although their fuehrer was extremely disgusted with cigarettes and was a typical anti-smoker, they still allocated cigarettes to the strategic materials of the army, but compared with other countries, the amount of cigarettes that German soldiers could only have per day was limited to about 6 cigarettes per day.
The front-line soldiers were extremely dissatisfied but helpless, and in addition to requesting more distribution, the capture of enemy cigarettes became their way of replenishing cigarettes. Especially in the late part of World War II, the Germans were very envious of the U.S. military, because at that time, the U.S. army provided unlimited cigarettes to soldiers.
Once upon a time, there was a joke that if German soldiers had unlimited cigarette supply at the beginning of the war, the situation of World War II must have been different. When American soldiers caught German soldiers, handing them a cigarette is arguably the best way to ease relations between the two sides.
Talking about the Soviet Union, soviet soldiers also smoked in the early stages of World War II, but most of them were self-rolling cigarettes and not industrial cigarettes, and each soldier could only get 20 grams of mahe cigarettes per week, which obviously could not meet daily needs at all, so tobacco became a hard currency in the hands of Soviet soldiers, tobacco could be exchanged for any material, but very few soldiers did that.
In order to understand the addiction, in addition to smoking the tobacco distributed, the Soviet soldiers would also find other things to replace, such as dried maple leaves, hops and so on. In short, anything that can be smoked, they will never give up trying,
It is precisely because of this terrible war that when they smoke, they will know that they are a living person and have a little ability to enjoy. As for german cigarettes captured during the war, the low-level soldiers were not eligible to enjoy them, and they had to be given to the top first, until the end of World War II, when they gradually eased.
As for the U.S. army in World War II, they can be described as rich, each soldier can receive 5 to 7 packs of cigarettes a week, they are not worried about cigarettes at all, the cigarettes they smoke have "camel" and "caiyun" cards, etc., for them, there is a cigarette army has combat effectiveness.
During World War II, farmers who specialized in tobacco cultivation in the United States became fragrant and exempt from military service, which is enough to see the huge role that cigarettes played in the war.
The U.S. military has a great demand for cigarettes, the Army, and their navy, in the words of the U.S. Navy, the U.S. fleet can move forward, driven by heavy oil, cigarettes, and coffee.
At the end of World War II and after the war, cigarettes became "circulating currency" to some extent, and there were many things that could be exchanged, and even if you liked a girl, you could get her with cigarettes.
In short, cigarettes have completely exceeded their role in war, and although it is not obvious in peacetime, once a cruel war breaks out, tobacco will surely become a wartime necessity for soldiers of all countries, because this is the only comfort for their spiritual world in an extremely cruel battlefield.
However, speaking of this, it comes down to the old saying: smoking is harmful to health, and you old smoking guns please respect yourself in public!
References for this article: "The Complete History of World War II", "CNKI Related Materials - The Role of Tobacco in the Wartime for the Army and Other Related Materials", "Baidu Encyclopedia Related Terms - World War II, War and Tobacco, etc."