Jerrycan
A
jerrycan or
jerrican or
jerry can is a robust
fuel container made from pressed
steel.
The jerrycan was invented by the
Germans during a secret project ordered by
Hitler. The Germans called it the
Wehrmachtskanister. The Germans had thousands of jerrycans stockpiled by 1939 in anticipation of war.
At the beginning of the
Second World War, the
British Army were equipped with simple rectangular fuel containers: a 2
Imperial gallon (9 litre) container made of pressed steel and a 4 gallon (18 litre) container made from tin plate. While the 2 gallon containers were relatively strong, they were expensive to produce. The 4 gallon containers, which were mainly manufactured in the
third world, were cheap and plentiful but they were not very robust. Consequently they were colloquially known as
flimsies.
While adequate for transportation by road in Europe, the flimsies proved to be extremely unsatisfactory during the
North African Campaign and severely hampered the operation of the
British 8th Army. The transportation of fuel over rough terrain often resulted in much of the fuel being lost as the containers were easily punctured. The resultant leakages also made the transportation vehicles liable to fuel fires.
Previously, an American engineer named Paul Pleiss had built a vehicle to journey to India with his German colleague. After building the car, they realized they didn't have any storage for emergency water. The engineer had access to the stockpile at
Tempelhof Airport, and just took three. They drove across 11 national borders without incident until Field Marshal Goering sent a plane to take the engineer home. The German engineer compounded his treason by giving Pleiss complete specifications for the manufacture of the can. Pliess continued on to Calcutta, put his car in storage, and flew back to Philadephia.
Pleiss told American military officials about the can, but they ignored him. Without a sample, he realized he could get nowhere. He eventually got the car shipped to New York by a roundabout method, and sent a can to Washington. The War Department decided instead to use the WWI ten-gallon can with two screw closures, which requried both a wrench and funnel for pouring.
When the British Army first saw the German fuel cans during the invasion of
Norway in 1940. The British immediately saw the advantages of the superior design. The containers had three handles on them to allow for easy handling by one or two people, or to be moved
bucket brigade-style; the sides of the can were marked with cross-like indentations that allowed the contents of the can to expand; when filled, the cans retained an air pocket so that they would float on water; and rather than a screw cap, the containers used a cam lever release mechanism with a short spout secured with a snap closure and an air-pipe to the air pocket which enabled smooth pouring. The interior was also lined with an impervious plastic, first developed for steel beer barrels that would allow the can to be used for either water or gasoline. The can was welded, and had a gasket for a leak-proof mouth. The British used cans captured from the "
gerrys" (Germans) â€" hence "gerrycans" or "jerrycans" â€" in preference to their own containers as much as possible. Later in 1940 Pleiss was in London, and British officers asked him about the design and manufacture of the jerrycan. Pleiss ordered the second of his three jerrycans flown to London.
The one American jerrycan was sent to Cammp Holabird, MD, where it was redesigned. It only retained the handles, size and shape. The weld was replaced with rolled seams, the lining was removed, and it now required a wrench and a funnel.
The original design proved far superior, and these fuel containers were subsequently used in all
theatres of war around the world.
Today similar designs are used for fuel and water containers, some of which are also produced in plastic. The designs usually emulate the original steel design and are still known as jerrycans, although they have also been called "jerryjugs" (or "jerry jugs", just as jerrycan is sometimes spelt as two words as well).
*
World War II era German Jerrycan*
More info on Gerrycan history, usage & markings* Desmond Young, historian
* Richard M. Daniel, retired commander in the US Naval Resereve
