Mk 2 Carrier water can

[Bob Carriere]

The short neck on the fuel tank was over shadowed by the tool box..... and even though the tool box has a 45 degree notch over the filler neck it is next to impossible to refuel with a 2 gal POW unless you have the offset funnel or better still the "horsecock" device screwed to the 2 gal. PWO container.

I have observd that a lot of field photos in North Afrika the CMP fuel filler neck has been extended to twice it's lenght possibly to deal with refueling issues....either that or the truck was aroused!!!!!!

Cheers

[Robert Bergeron]

My friends,

Thank you Lynn for your comments. I was not thinking of the poor light infantry when making my comments because the tread concerned water cans on Canadian Mk 2 Carriers , a mechanised vehicule for the modern mechanised warfare practiced in the WW2 NWE theatre of war . You are abolutely right, those goddamned Jerry cans are too heavy to carry around in the jungle like you and the Chindits did before you.

That is right Bob my friend but we are talking about the WW2 Carriers .

Thank God for the large filling cap on the later versions of the American Jeep. Spilling of fuel yes but when you have to fill up and go that is the way to go.

Here a few examples of the US Jerrycans , fuel and water and they are radicaly different from either the Canadian or the British versions .

Lastly, the issue has not evolved much in the last 75 years because here you have a modern, current Canadian water can / Jerrycan . It is made of plastic, it is black and it weights a lot when full. Better suited for vehicule mounting than being carried by light infantry in the mountains of Afghanistan.

So, coming back to the initial subject. Carrier crews would mount whatever they could get their hands on to carry as much fuel and water to last till the next replenishment. It could take quite a while. 2 gal, 5 gal Brit / US Jerrycans you name it.

In my humble opinion the US 5 gal water Jerrycan was the best because of the large mouth . Unfortunately i see no photographic evidence they were ever used by the Canadians. It is better and the evidence to that is that it is still largely employed today in the form of the plastic example i have posted. They are also made sand desert colour.

As far as the fuel container , the British 5 Gal Jerrycan was better. The US Jerrycan really needed a funnel to work . Anyone wants to add on this ? I am open to critisizim but please , please let's stay gentlemanly.

I am still curious to see what Lynn , Lauren ( thanks for the nice 2 gal can pictures ) and the other folks from the Commonwealth are going to post for pictures of 4, 5 gallon cans and flymsies so we can compare with the Canadian Carrier experience . I am really interested .

Picture 1- Left 1944 US gas Jerrycan right 1944 US Water can. Picture 2- 1944 gas Jerrycan. 3- Current Canadian water can. Used from the mid 80's till present day.

David Dunlop you little bugger , you posted the best picture . A wine Jerrycan of all things . Only the French...

Radek, your picture of a green Canadian watercan is mystifying..

Wait till my next post gentlemen, you are in for a surprise.

Cheers.

[Robert Bergeron]

Friends,

We seem like we want to expand this discussion to fuel cans as installed in Canadian Carriers NWE 44-45.

Not wanting to fuel controversy ( petrol-fuel, got it ? ) , i suggest there were multiple colours available for 2 gal and 5 gal water / fuel cans .

We have seen white, gray ( Robert) , green ( Radek, Lauren, Lynn maybe ) maybe black ( Robert again ) . As for fuel 2 and 5 gal cans we have seen green.

I now introduce to you the RED 2 gal petrol/ gas can !

Like Radek's , it is official Canadian military stenciling , not a repaint.

Picture 1- To the left Green GSW CBroad Arrow marked PETROL 1944 , to the right RED GSW CBroad arrow marked PETROL 1943 .

Picture 2- 44 left , 43 right . C Broad arrow both cases .

picture 3- GSW years 44 and 43 respectively.

How about this ? Isn't a gas ?

Stewart : BTW thanks for posting the bails . That was a new one for me .

[Ed Storey]

There must have been a few of them kicking around in Canadian hands as according to the Sherman stowage diagrams issued by the War Officer, there were two stowed within the left-hand sponson of each British Sherman tank.

[Ed Storey]

That is a rare can and is not encountered very often, red is apparently for white gas (naptha), but I have yet to find any documentation to support it.

[Lauren Child]

Yes, I think the 4gal cans are flimsies, though I was quoting from the manual - I dont have a good (complete) example of one.

Jerricans are referred to as 4 1/2 gallon cans in some of the wartime docs, differentiating them from the mention of 4 gallon cans. There are diagrams for safe stacking of both types.

There's a good photo on various forums that shows the difference between 2gal, 4gal non-returnable flimsy, 4gal returnable later type, and jerricans - I've attached it below (shout if it's your photo).

[Lauren Child]

Flimsy type (non-returnable) from RASC training pamphlet 20 part 2.

image.jpg

(note this is a document on Petrol, Oil, and Lubricants, not water, so just quoted here to demonstrate the difference in the cans)

4 Gallon returnable (late flimsy)

image.jpg

4 1/2 gallon Jerricans

image.jpg