Mk 2 Carrier water can

[David Dunlop]

Don't forget the most important can of all, the French Army Wine Can!


David

[Robert Bergeron]

Friends,

As promised and acknowledging the prior postings from all my MLU friends, here are my dates.

1- GSW ( A Canadian manufacturer like Ed said ) 1943 for the white can.

2-GSW 1944 for the grey can.

3- A WD 1944 Black Jerrycan ( Gerrycan ? ) , it's British so i don't know.

So , in wartime pictures , on a Canadian Carrier , we could see all three, yes ?

[Robert Bergeron]

And the proverbial 1945 dated green/ olive WD Jerrycan.

Original content unknown but probably fuel.

Not much to differentiate the two but the small '' water '' marking/ stamping at the bottom of the water can and of course the white paint..

The water coming out of these steel cans must of tasted like ... petrol.

[Ed Storey]

Yes, you could potentially see all three in use at the same time in NW Europe, plus US Jerry Cans and even German cans. For sure, the water could taste like petrol if the cans got mixed up, that is why the 2 gallon cans were painted in very distinct colours.

The manufacture of 2 gallon cans pre-dates the Great War. During that conflict there was another set of colours in use and one of the complaints by Veterans of that conflict was that the drinking water regularly had a film on it and it tasted like petrol.

[Robert Bergeron]

Thank-you Ed,

I have a few examples of the US jerrycans, water and gas. I do not think our friends in the US used the word ''petrol '' .

When i have a chance i will take a few pictures of those and post them for future reference. They were indeed all carried ( Canadian , Brit and US ) by the Canadians in combat . I have seen a lot of pictures of Canadian Carriers with the 5 Gal jerrycans tied up on the top of the back plate , two on each side . 5 gallons is much better than 2 when travelling fast across France, Belgium and Holland . That was before coming to a complete stop on the Breskens Peninsula...but that is another matter.

Anyway, the idea of having only 2 gallon containers for anything like precious petrol for the machines and water for the crew was outdated from the beginning in a war of movement. That the Germans understood well and that is why they invented the ''Jerrycan '' before North Africa . Indeed Ed, the 2 gal can precedes the 1 st World War, thank-you for reminding us. My point if you see it coming is that it was absolescent after WW1 .

The 2 gal can for armored vehicules was absolescent since the late 20's and early 30's when the great joint Russian / German school of armour at Kazan was formed and it's teachings impressed the future European armoured officers . Armoured doctrine and Guderian already predicted that the next war would be a war of movement. Hence the ''Blitzkrieg '' ( correct my spelling ) .

Before i post some of the US Jerrycans, can any of our British Commonwealth friends post pictures of their country's period water and petrol cans as they were carried on their country' s Carriers for comparison to the Canadian practice please ?

Lauren, as far as local 4 gallon cans , i think you were alluding to what was / is called '' flimsy's '' , am i correct ? Post a few pictures please so we will be able to see the great advantages of the jerrycan vs the flimsy for a mechanised army in campaign.

Let me state a few : 1 gal more content. Reusable infinitum. Can be carried in pairs no problem by one man.

Many thanks.

[cletrac (RIP)]

Blitzkrieg is OK but you missed the boat on obsolescent.

[Lynn Eades]

While it is "get Robert time".
Have you fueled up your carrier from a Jerry can, "without a funnel etc", yet Robert? (no pourer allowed sorry) (you technically ruled it out with the "etc")

You second to last line refers to "carrying two Jerry cans by one man, no problem". You must mean empty ones!?

I was on exercise in Fiji in the early 70's. Every one was carrying gear. I was tasked with carrying a modern standard plastic 20 litre water container (full of drinking water) up a big hill. A long climb. I was wearing my webbing and a pack full of gear, along with the SLR (L1A1) and I will never forget having to carry that bloody thing.
Remember "gas" (petrol) has a S.G. of 0.76 or there abouts. Water is 1.00!
Don't give me "no problem!"