Tea, the Soldier's Drink

Sometimes even-- or especially-- in the midst of war, you just need a cup of tea. (Especially when you're British.... so much so, in fact, that this will be a two-parter, thanks to the Imperial War Museum!).

A solider drinking a tea next to a Red Cross mobile tea wagon, Calcutta, 1944. Source

Members of a parachute battalion have a well-earned cup of tea after a three day fight back to their own lines, Normandy, 1944 Source

British troops have tea in Belgium, 1917. Source

British and Egyptian convalescent soldiers at a tea held by the wife of the British ambassador to Egypt, WW2. Source

Soldiers with tea and cakes served by a front-line Salvation Army van, Italy, 1943. Source

RAF men have tea in a newly created club in Algiers, c. 1940. Source

A Canadian captain has a cup of tea as he recounts his experiences in the failed Dieppe raid after disembarking in Portsmouth, England, 1942. Source

A Royal Engineer holding a cup of tea and a pie smiles in front of a WVS tea car, London, 1941. Source

High-ranking officers take a tea break to discuss British strategy, Rangoon, Burma, c 1945. Source

Royal Field Artillerymen with tea and hot rum during the Battle of the Lys, WWI. Source

Canadian troops recieving their tea ration at the field kitchen, Belgium, 1916. Source

Canadian airmen line up for food and tea on a North African airfield, 1943. Source

A mobile tea canteen at the front in North Africa, 1942. Source

A woman hands out tea to soldiers (and their pet monkey) at a town in France, 1940. Source

A First Aid Nursing Yeomanry woman feeds tea and sandwiches to evacuated soldiers on a train, London, 1940 (the hands-ful soldier is wearing a captured German helmet). Source

Waitresses serve RAF men tea and things in a NAAFI canteen, England, 1941. Source

Officers being served tea in a garden in North Africa, possibility Tunisia, 1942. Source

Troops get mugs of tea while waiting to embark on ships to Sicily, Egypt, 1943. Source

Tea served to German prisoners, France, 1944. Source

Members of the ATS have tea in London, 1945. Source

Wrens host a tea party for wounded soldiers, Alexandria, Egypt, WW2. Source

RAF officers take tea in their mess in a French airfield, 1939-40. Source

A Scottish soldier rests with a cigarette and cup of tea on a jungle patrol, Malaysia, 1948-50. Source