On September 25, 1918, the U.S. Army’s 313th Bakery Company was operating at Rimaucourt, France, where it helped supply the American Expeditionary Forces during the final months of World War I. As a specialized Quartermaster unit working behind the Western Front, the company ran a large field bakery designed to turn flour and fuel into a dependable daily ration for troops moving toward, serving at, and returning from the front.
Centralized field bakeries were an essential part of modern military logistics. Through organized production, dough preparation, and large field ovens, bakery companies supplied fresh bread on a scale that would have been difficult for individual units to manage on their own. Their work reduced the logistical burden on combat formations and helped maintain the routine, energy, and morale of soldiers during sustained operations.
This late-September photograph preserves the labor behind that system: soldiers shaping dough inside a makeshift bakery rather than operating weapons at the front. It is a reminder that the Allied war effort depended not only on infantry, artillery, and transport, but also on bakers, cooks, mechanics, clerks, and other support personnel whose work kept armies fed and functioning. The record of the 313th Bakery Company is therefore a valuable image of the industrial organization that underpinned the American war effort in France.
My dad was member of this unit, as I remember him telling us about when and where he learned to bake bread, as well as many other baked items that were done by his unit all during world war 1. I does my heart good to find this article about this particular unit.
Than you so very much for posting this. I am his 5 son of 9 boys and 3 girls, in Georgia and Alabama.
Leman H Wilson wilsonleman2@gmail.com at 8:07 PM 9-25-26