An Army marches on a tankful of fuel and bellyful of water, a logistician nightmare.
Hitler knew this well. He perceived early that the weakest link in his plans for blitzkrieg using his Panzer
Divisions was fuel supply. He ordered his staff to design a fuel container that would minimize gasoline
losses under combat conditions. Quick to task, the German army had thousands of Jerrycans, as they
came to be called by the allies, stored and ready when hostilities began in 1939.
Developed under great secrecy, it had many unique features: Capacity: 22 Litres. Ease of storage: flat
sided and rectangular in shape. For balance: two halves welded together. Three handles: one man to carry two cans and pass one to another in bucket-brigade fashion . Air Chamber at the top: to float on water. Short spout with snap closure: pop open for pouring, making unnecessary a funnel or opener. Gasket to make it leak proof. An air-breathing tube from the spout to air space keeps the pouring smooth. And most important, the can’s inside was lined with a waterproof plastic material enabling the Jerrycan to be used alternately for gasoline and water – as required. A marvel of an invention: it was a fuel carrier …….. water container …….. a comfortable stool to sit on …..… three piled up
as a table to eat on and a …..… row of them to mark a boundary. The British named it the Jerry (slang for German) can.
Generations of soldiers have used it in all its avatars, and the name remains ‘Jerrycan’.
The story begins ……… in the summer of 1939. An American engineer named Paul Pleiss, working in Berlin, persuaded a German colleague to join him on a vacation trip overland to India. They built a car and while preparing to leave on their journey, realized that they had no provision for emergency water. The German had access to thousands of Jerrycans, then
still a closely guarded state secret. He simply took three and mounted them on the underside of the car.
While the two were halfway across India, Field Marshal Goering sent a plane to take the German engineer back home.Before departing, the engineer gave Pleiss complete specifications of the Jerrycan. Pleiss continued alone to Calcutta.
Then he put the car in storage and returned to Philadelphia.
Back in the United States, Pleiss told military officials about the container. Without a sample, even though the war was well under way, he could stir no interest. He had his car shipped from Calcutta. It arrived in New York in the summer of 1940 with the three Jerrycans intact, Pleiss immediately sent one to Washington. The Americans tried to make their own
designs of the can without much success.
The British first encountered the Jerrycan during the German invasion of Norway in 1940. Later that year Pleiss was in London and was asked by British officers if he knew anything about the can’s design. He ordered the second of his three Jerrycans to be flown to London. Steps were taken to manufacture exact duplicates – unsuccessfully.
Even in 1942, the Americans however, in their own arrogant ways remained oblivious of the Jerrycan. Just before the Battle of El Alamein, the American Army was offered the ‘American cans’ which they rejected outright; they were happy with the captured Jerrycans. The British Army too remained content with thousands captured from the Germans. They were bitter with their government since the British cans would either burst at the seams or leak causing much logistic despair. The Jerrican was slowly turning out to be a deciding factor in the War; in 1942 General Montgomery defeated
Rommel using captured Jerrycans.
No one who did not serve in the desert, can realize to what extent the difference between complete and partial success rested on the simplest item of our equipment – Desmond Young, British Historian.
Meanwhile the British were finally gearing up for mass production. Two million British Jerrycans were sent to North Africa
in early 1943, and by early 1944 they were being manufactured in the Middle East. Since the British had such a head start,
the Allies agreed to let them produce all the cans needed for the invasion of Europe. Millions were ready by D-day.
President Roosevelt observed in Nov 1944 – Without these cans it would have been impossible for our armies to cut their
way across France at a lightning pace which exceeded the German Blitz of 1940.
Heil Jerrycan!!!!!