That is why the US marine corps is still the second best compared to the Royal Marines, they are marines, not air forces, tanks, artillery etc etc etc.
@@andrewallen9993 HA HA , Nice try Sir.Im no expert I served on Submarines.But of course Ill have to stick with my own.Although I do see youre point.Thank You stay safe
The late R. Lee Ermey once remarked on one of his cable TV shows that we (the Americans) were lucky the British found and named the Jerry can before us, because if it had been left to the U.S. Army, they'd have ended up being Container, Fuel, Axis Forces. (This video is genius, by the way. Field expediency at its best. It'd make a fellow proud to be English, if I were English. :)
Another little appreciated subject I would like to see David discuss is how AFV crews dealt with feeding themselves, especially during a campaign; for example what they ate, how they cooked it, how it was issued to them and how / where it was stored in the AFV.
K and C rations tucked into every nook and cranny that wasn't taken up by other stuff, nowadays its MRE pouches stashed away in baggage. you want an example of what they ate? I direct to you to this channel th-cam.com/channels/2I6Et1JkidnnbWgJFiMeHA.html for the ration information you seek as there isn't a special tanker rations, they get the same thing as the infantry get due to ease of logistics (barring whatever local cuisine the afv crews indulge in during downtime). From the channel in the link above you can follow links to other ration reviewers and pursue this little rabbit hole of yours to your heart's content... ^.^
Generally speaking yes, but the Jerry can did not help Jerries win the war. The allies had so much fuel compared to Axis that they could afford the 30% loss mentioned in the video.
@@JopardBDS eh, that's literally the German psyche in the war. Gets the tiniest bits so good while everything around it is falling apart. And Adam is totally right and not missing the point.
Appreciate the effort you all are making to keep up making content. Mr Willey looks like a classic English gentleman out tending to his estate here :-)
Apologizing for being able to casually pull a 1944 British copy of a Jerry Can out of his garage that looks only a wee bit worn. What a gentleman. Thank you for the video!
Actually, a bit of air in a container allows the fluid to expand without stressing the container significantly. I suspect there were lots of other clever design reasons for the layout (including, I'm sure, floating). However, fluid expansion without an airspace can generate very large forces.
@@PosranaRegistrace As a man known to his followers as Gun-Jesus once said: "The magazine really is the fundamental core of the gun and if the magazine doesn't work well, the gun will always have problems." (slightly ripped from it's context because he was specifically talking about sub-machine guns, but I couldn't resist)
When cleaning out one of the attics on the farm of my deceased grandmother we randomly found a jerry can in tip-top condition tucked away behind a shelf of old shindles, an ancient threshing machine and assorted stuff. Near as we can tell it's from the US army back right after the war. Not terribly exciting, I realize, but it was still a pretty cool find.
David Willey and David Fletcher are my favourite curators of the Tank Museum. They seem so approachable and knowledgeable that they make anything look interesting. Great video. Stay healthy!
Thanks David, I've been following you guys for years and I found this to be a really interesting video, given the current climate. Keep up the great work. :)
David, first class effort! You have placed the bar pretty darn high with this video! I have served in the Australian Army Reserve in Signals and later in the Engineers, so I was aware of some of the story but the back story of the British fuel cans and fuel supply chain was totally new to me. During my time in the late 80s and early 90s, the metal Jerry cans were for primarily diesel with some for petrol for generators etc. The green plastic cans were for water. Not sure of the current methods. The ADF fuel tanker semi's have certainly been given a workout supporting the fire fighting efforts this past summer here in Australia. The usual setup was for the tanker to be parked on one side of a sports oval and the fire trucks could then shuttle past as they came off the fire ground for a rest break.
This was actually fascinating. Good job. I can say I watched a video about paint and another on Jerry cans lol. And loved them both! PS... I'm sure you have a spare set of keys... we won't tell if you sneak inside the empty museum to film
When I was a kid my Dad had one of these 2 gallon tins with paraffin for thje garden bonfire. He still had it when he died in 1991, but then it went. It had PRATTS embossed on the side.
@@rayjennings3637 More than likely - my Dad was RAF groundcrew in Persia (as it was then) 1940 - 1945. And the can was kept under his workbench in the garage. I was eventually allowed to use it when I was a teenager. Garden bonfires were a treat to an incipient junior arsonist!
@@rayjennings3637 Yes, been there. Don't remember the burning oil off brake shoes, but many exhausts, brake linings and all sorts of gadgets for improving fuel economy. Don't remember any of them actually working though! But when I started doing the bonfires, I hadn't understood that you oughtn't to be too liberal with the paraffin to start - with the same effect on my eyebrows as you had!
Covenanter: it’s over medeleeve I have the high ground Medeleeve:you under estimate my power Also medeleeve : remembers Covenanter fought in sand Covenanter: don’t try it Medeleeve ahahahahaaa After that battle medeleeve was turned into kv6
This was a brilliant idea to present while we are all isolating to one degree or another. Thanks for sharing! *(Side note) I love how Mr. David works in his garden with rubber boots and a tie!
16.00 very true, my grandparents told me that story. We still have jerrycans from '44. A german one with marking wd and an arrow, a few us ones with the screw cap and a black us one for water. It has jerrycan style lid but as big of a hole as the screw cap and it's got a white kind of paint inside.
The canister was not only an excellent container for fuel, it represented a logistical concept. Faced with the question of whether it was better to supply the mass of vehicles with a few tankers or individually with canisters, experts such as Adolf von Schell (General for Transport, 1893-1967) came to the conclusion that it would always be easier and, above all, faster to supply a large number of vehicles with at least 40 to 80 litres of diesel than to have to refuel an entire convoy of vehicles with individual tankers. 2 to 4 canisters can also easily be brought to a broken-down tank on a motorbike with a sidecar or a "Kübelwagen", the last few hundred metres through the fire zone on foot if necessary, but a tanker full of petrol on the battlefield would be a gift for the enemy.
Top improvisation - its amusing as I was reading up on Jerry cans the other day - as I suspect its one of the most important world war 2 inventions, yet barely gets any attention.
I'm blown away with with Jerry Can knowledge, Thanks David Willey. I hadn't thought about it before, but it does make sense why these cans were called "Jerry Cans". It's because the British named them. Calling Germans Jerry's is definitely British. Great show!
That could be a factor, and also "Jerry" is a name. And we have the parallels with "Tommy" for British soldiers (Kipling used the term in 1890, and "Thomas Atkins" was used nearly 150 years earlier). And, while the pairing of Tom and Jerry is pretty old, the well-known cartoons didn't start until 1940. It's easy to get too clever about such things, but I don't think it was a simple, single, reference, however the usage started.
As he said, those were a couple possible origins. A simple shortening of “German” is also possible. A combination of things is also pretty likely. Through WWI “Fritz” was far more common, with more pejorative terms “gun”, “heinie”, or “boche” also commonly used. It is kind of interesting how “Jerry” and “Kraut” rose to prominence just a generation later.
In German, they tend to add words together, in English, we take them apart, so: From 'bed chamber pot' via 'chamber pot' & 'potty' we arrive at the humble 'po', which is in turn rather convenient when you're desperate for a 'p'. So glad I'm a native : )
And yet, your production values are still better than some so-called professionals on the larger networks for these at home type broadcasts. Well done sir, well done.
Well done David as always. During REFORGER in 1980 our 200+ vehicle convoy would stop on a side road lined with thousands of jerry cans to refuel, which were placed there and manned by a Bundeswehr logistics unit. You would stop your vehicle, grap some cans, fill up the vehicle, put the cans back on the side of the road and then move out. Total time was a bout 15 minutes for over 200 vehicles. Pretty clever.
These things still turn up in sheds across europe from time to time. I found 2 myself in a barn in the netherlands. Used for years by the farmer for his Daf and motorcycle/garden equipment.
our swiss army has thosands of them and you'll find thousands more all over switzerland... they're very handy to have for whatever fuel. especially farmers like them. and you can still buy brand new manufactured ones everywhere...
David, compelling viewing as always, thank you. Very relieved that you made it through the segment before your chair collapsed. Please repair before next use - a bit distracting for those concerned with workplace safety.
I sincerely wish to thank all of the the youtube providers, (is it possible to do that insincerely?) who are not alarmist or narcissists or totally negative, but are dedicated to giving interesting, informative content to all comers... THANK YOU! (and believe me that thank you also goes to all first responders and the tired, distressed medical workers too)
To sit down, and do a presentation to camera, off the cuff as it were, and make it lively and absorbing and a thoroughly entertaining is a measure of true professionalism. And of course am encyclopaedic knowledge. Top job there David.
This is great! I've been a logistics manager for almost all of my career. This is very fascinating to me, add some singing birds and David Willey presenting, and this is logistics history at its finest. Thanks for the great presentation and research.
My friend and I had a chat with David Willey earlier this week at the tank museum. I had watched quite a few tank chats so was excited to meet him in person and ask a few questions. My friend had no idea who he was but, after we spoke to him, became an instant fan haha. It's good to see that the tank museum is in good hands with people like David around.
This makes me interested on the nitty gritty of the mundane stuff about tanks and armoured vehicles. Like the uniforms of the Tank Crews. Maybe even feature the radio systems if possible
Even more staggering when you start adding on other supplies. Like food for 1 million servicemen, times a couple of meals per day. Ammo, at about 120 men in a company, times average 100 rounds a man (riflemen, MG would be a lot more), times I dont know how many companies. It starts to boggle the mind.
"inflammable" is earlier, both with the same Latin origin. "inflammare" is slightly different to "flammare" becuase of how Latin works. English has both meaning the same thing. "Highly Inflammable" sticks as a warning label but "flammable" has become more common.
Imflammable has also meant flammable. Used in a few places for a while because inflammable was thought to mean not flammable by some (cf words like inactive and incapacitated). To prevent confusion in the air and cargo shipping industries it was formalised and simplified to flammable/not flammable. People tend not to say 'a flammable situation'. I supose people get inflamed, getting flamed might lead to a different mental picture.
Wow. A year has passed already. These chats kept me going throughout lockdown and I really miss them. I used to look forward to every release. Loved Fynn as well. What a star.
Great presentation. My dad was in the 8th Army in North Africa. getting chased backwards and forwards by Rommel. He was a sapper and everything said in the presentation about the Jerry Can and the British petrol cans, he told me 50 years ago. Chatting as a kid, he told me how good the Jerry cans were, how much the British petrol cans leaked and driving trucks full of them while being shelled by German 88s. He said he was very lucky to survive, and many of his friends did not come back. Nick.
I wondering from the start "Why has he got a chamber pot next him?" Thank god it didn't get awkward... GREAT alternative chat, now's the time to go into the little details that can get missed because tanks are too sexy not to focus on.
How about a video about the factories / companies that produced AFV’s. Should get several vids and of course photos of such sites are on the web. I note that in the comments of David’s latest Centurion vid John Smith added links to a picture of the tank factory
12:47 in 1980 we had to take two FULL cans in every hand to fuel up our M 48 American tanks in the German Heide around Munster when we tried to fight the Russians in exercise.
I have two Swiss surplus Jerry cans in my yard barn along with a very old round steel 5 gal gas can. The heavy duty steel fuel containers are much better than the thin steel or light weight plastic containers.
How British can one get? Wellies, tea, in the garden, in front of a hedge, telling us a bit of history, and how we nicked something from those foreign chaps. Well played, Sir.
I never thought I would enjoy a documentary about Jerry cans this much. Thank you very much for continuing to make your excellent videos even in these turmultous times.
I pieced that together a while ago, but without the context of its origin, it always bothered me. Thankfully, this video helped to settle that little mystery.
When serving in Germany with the BAOR, I heard 'Jerry-built' referred to those buildings built during post-war occupation by German POWs being used as forced labour. Not surprisingly, their heart wasn't in it.
Thank you SO much for this video. In a period of crisis, here you are continuing to keep us all informed in an entertaining fashion, with the minimum of kit. Bravo!
I believe I read in "The Tank War" by Mark Urban, that refilling tanks in the desert was extremely dangerous, using the flimsy British cans. They took it in turns to don fireproof clothing to do the actual pouring....while the rest of the crew stood by with fire extinguishers, for the crew member on fire !!
I do not think so. From 1954 to 1966 - in Egypt, Cyrenaica, Singapore, Malaya and two 3 year spells in BAOR we NEVER took precautions - apart from not smoking! The petrol tank - on some trucks - was above shoulder height making it very difficult - and wasteful! - to re-fuel. After return to Barracks from exercises the first job was to top up the tanks. Hoisting up to 8 or 9 full Jerrycans was no mean feat!!!!!!!
Ted Jones You don't think so !! Your military service 10 years later makes you an expert !! I'll get back to you with a reference as soon as time permits.
@@californiadreamin8423 I am not reputing your comments only the source that has got it wrong. I am not an expert but I filled an awful lot of petrol tanks from Jerrycans. I even fried an egg on a Halftrack mudguard - nothing to do with this thread but maybe interesting! My memory of those days go back a bit further than 10 years, more like 60. These days far more precautions are taken, I suppose, but I think that in Desert Storm the Squaddie, tired, cold and possibly wet had one thought before he got his head down! Let's get this so and so job done as quickly as possible and sod the rules. If there were any rules then I didn't know of them and as a Colour Sgt I think that I would have especially if there was any risk.
A true measure of this man's capability and knowledge, is that he's able make fuel cans interesting.
BlueBoy0316 all you need is education and you can make anything interesting. you should try it some day
TBoy205 Well, that was completely unnecessary
@@TBoy205 Just let all the insecurities out, it's okay.
Like mathematics, the pure theory can be mind numbing but its applications are not.
His passion and knowledge for his subject makes it be a blast to listen to. Also his accent q:
Next week: Inside the Jerry Can's Lid with the Chieftain.
Need I say it?
"Oh my god, the can is on fire!"
EinachserLS Im glad you said it
@@EinachserLS now I think about his Strv103 review and how he talks the Jerry can skirts.
Tracktentioning on a Jerrycan. could be intresting.
@@hollander133 cap tensioning perhaps?
“The Marine Corps being the Marine Corps
did their own thing...”. That about sums it up. 😀
If you want logistics join the army. Marines make it do.
USA's 2nd Ground Forces & 3rd Air Force.
That is why the US marine corps is still the second best compared to the Royal Marines, they are marines, not air forces, tanks, artillery etc etc etc.
@@andrewallen9993 HA HA , Nice try Sir.Im no expert I served on Submarines.But of course Ill have to stick with my own.Although I do see youre point.Thank You stay safe
@@kevinc4632 :)
Well, this is different, but quite nice, I enjoy this type of "fireside" tank/equipment chat, thank you for continuing to bring us interesting content
Great aye!
🔥 side with gas cans can't be good .
The late R. Lee Ermey once remarked on one of his cable TV shows that we (the Americans) were lucky the British found and named the Jerry can before us, because if it had been left to the U.S. Army, they'd have ended up being Container, Fuel, Axis Forces.
(This video is genius, by the way. Field expediency at its best. It'd make a fellow proud to be English, if I were English. :)
I am English, and it does!
I was either that or ''Kraut cans''
andrew woodhead I like the sound of Hans Cans
gascan in Canada
Well, (Wehrmachts)Einheitskanister isn't that much better. That (possibly written Kanister, Einheits, Wehrmacht) was the original name
Another little appreciated subject I would like to see David discuss is how AFV crews dealt with feeding themselves, especially during a campaign; for example what they ate, how they cooked it, how it was issued to them and how / where it was stored in the AFV.
K and C rations tucked into every nook and cranny that wasn't taken up by other stuff, nowadays its MRE pouches stashed away in baggage. you want an example of what they ate? I direct to you to this channel th-cam.com/channels/2I6Et1JkidnnbWgJFiMeHA.html for the ration information you seek as there isn't a special tanker rations, they get the same thing as the infantry get due to ease of logistics (barring whatever local cuisine the afv crews indulge in during downtime). From the channel in the link above you can follow links to other ration reviewers and pursue this little rabbit hole of yours to your heart's content... ^.^
let's get this out on a tray...
@@rascallyrabbit717 ... nice. (Hope Steve is okay with covid shutting us all inside, his last vid was 3 weeks ago now)
No apricots!!!
Feeding is one thing, but going to WC just by using empty shell cases is just another pair of sockets...
Really interesting, I'd like to see more of this logistics stuff.
Totally, loved it and want more like it.
Agreed.
Nice, isn't it? Love it as well.
Book - Logistics in the Falklands War Kenneth L. Privratsky (US Army)
Fascinating.
This is on par with tank chats for me. And its longer
As they say: "Tactics win battles, logistics win wars." And this is a very nice example of that 'logistics'-part. Thanks!
Generally speaking yes, but the Jerry can did not help Jerries win the war. The allies had so much fuel compared to Axis that they could afford the 30% loss mentioned in the video.
@@adamkovac90 You are - slightly - missing the point.
True. Sadly, the worst aspect of the german war machine was indeed, the logistics...
An almost poetic bit of irony that they got this small item crucial to logistics close to perfect while their logistics were so poor
@@JopardBDS eh, that's literally the German psyche in the war. Gets the tiniest bits so good while everything around it is falling apart. And Adam is totally right and not missing the point.
Appreciate the effort you all are making to keep up making content. Mr Willey looks like a classic English gentleman out tending to his estate here :-)
Do you think we'll get a look at his shed?
Giovanni Corbari Gasparini now you are asking the good questions
OK, what's the connection between the Masada pistol and a 1911 pistol?
S. Marcus There isn’t one, as far as i know
@@Masada1911 Yes, I know. So.........how did you choose your username? Why not: "Gefiltefishpaperclip"?
This is probably the single best Tank Museum video ever.
David Willie: Style icon
Viyella shirt Hunter wellingtons and Marks and Spencer corduroys. Smart yet casual
Typical English countryman look
Apologizing for being able to casually pull a 1944 British copy of a Jerry Can out of his garage that looks only a wee bit worn. What a gentleman. Thank you for the video!
This was great David, lovely to see someone outside in the countryside., and hearing some bird song.
Very interesting especially about the cans floating. never knew that.
Actually, a bit of air in a container allows the fluid to expand without stressing the container significantly. I suspect there were lots of other clever design reasons for the layout (including, I'm sure, floating). However, fluid expansion without an airspace can generate very large forces.
However they don't if filled with water
Thank you , Mr Willey .
Thank you Mr Curator.
Time to watch a 20 minute video on jerry cans!
Indeed, these are hard times, but we'll have to do with this trailer for now. We have the full 3 season run to look forward to.
If you have not seen good old 2-hour video on Forgotten Weapons about clips and magazines.. way to go :D
@@PosranaRegistrace lindybeige is my go to channel fur logistics videos
@@PosranaRegistrace As a man known to his followers as Gun-Jesus once said: "The magazine really is the fundamental core of the gun and if the magazine doesn't work well, the gun will always have problems." (slightly ripped from it's context because he was specifically talking about sub-machine guns, but I couldn't resist)
Fascinating history. Cheers from across the pond 🇬🇧🇺🇸
When cleaning out one of the attics on the farm of my deceased grandmother we randomly found a jerry can in tip-top condition tucked away behind a shelf of old shindles, an ancient threshing machine and assorted stuff. Near as we can tell it's from the US army back right after the war.
Not terribly exciting, I realize, but it was still a pretty cool find.
Such a pleasure in these times to see chats such as these.
Mid 1980's UBRE and TTF operator, BAOR, RCT. I can aknowledge and appreciate everything that was said in that video...Keep it going.
A pod op? Hopefully you’ve cleaned up by now :)
David Willey and David Fletcher are my favourite curators of the Tank Museum. They seem so approachable and knowledgeable that they make anything look interesting. Great video. Stay healthy!
I prefer Mr. Fletcher as he delivers great amount of British snarkiness.
Great to see you doing well David! Thanks for the content, and stay safe!
In these horrible times, it's a comfort that Britain is keeping up the spirit. This was an interesting movie. Thank You!
OMG just spent 20 min watching a doc about Jerry can and love it. Keep up the great work from Canada 🇨🇦
Nice to see the curators in their natural habitat. Keep up the chats!
Thanks David, I've been following you guys for years and I found this to be a really interesting video, given the current climate. Keep up the great work. :)
I must say, I did like this kind of trivia. So even after lockdown etc, do more of 'em.
Great video. Love that David just took the Jerry cans from his shed
This is actually a subject I've been curious about since I build my first tank model as a kid. Thank you!
Thank you Mr. Wiley
David, first class effort! You have placed the bar pretty darn high with this video!
I have served in the Australian Army Reserve in Signals and later in the Engineers, so I was aware of some of the story but the back story of the British fuel cans and fuel supply chain was totally new to me. During my time in the late 80s and early 90s, the metal Jerry cans were for primarily diesel with some for petrol for generators etc. The green plastic cans were for water. Not sure of the current methods. The ADF fuel tanker semi's have certainly been given a workout supporting the fire fighting efforts this past summer here in Australia. The usual setup was for the tanker to be parked on one side of a sports oval and the fire trucks could then shuttle past as they came off the fire ground for a rest break.
I have to say one of the best talks produced!
Armies move by logistics.
Thanks
This was actually fascinating. Good job. I can say I watched a video about paint and another on Jerry cans lol. And loved them both!
PS... I'm sure you have a spare set of keys... we won't tell if you sneak inside the empty museum to film
I want to personally thank you for this. Not all heroes ware capes.
When I was a kid my Dad had one of these 2 gallon tins with paraffin for thje garden bonfire. He still had it when he died in 1991, but then it went. It had PRATTS embossed on the side.
@@rayjennings3637 More than likely - my Dad was RAF groundcrew in Persia (as it was then) 1940 - 1945. And the can was kept under his workbench in the garage. I was eventually allowed to use it when I was a teenager. Garden bonfires were a treat to an incipient junior arsonist!
@@rayjennings3637 Yes, been there. Don't remember the burning oil off brake shoes, but many exhausts, brake linings and all sorts of gadgets for improving fuel economy. Don't remember any of them actually working though! But when I started doing the bonfires, I hadn't understood that you oughtn't to be too liberal with the paraffin to start - with the same effect on my eyebrows as you had!
Thanks for doing this!
Thank you.
Maybe a little history on the museum and its origins.
The later JERRY CAN was also very easy to stack on top of each other.Great video!!
Meanwhile in David fletchers garden
Did I ever tell you the tragedy of the bob Semple
[one story later]
- Is it possible to learn this power?
- Not from a Briton.
Bob semple was killed in his sleep by the tsar tank
And tsar tanks nemesis is antanov a 40
Also David Fletcher: Oh would you look at the time. It's "bully Covenanter" o'clock
an interesting comment thread to be sure
Covenanter: it’s over medeleeve I have the high ground
Medeleeve:you under estimate my power
Also medeleeve : remembers Covenanter fought in sand
Covenanter: don’t try it
Medeleeve ahahahahaaa
After that battle medeleeve was turned into kv6
In these austere times a good old bit of simple story telling is much appreciated. Greetings from Aus.
This was a brilliant idea to present while we are all isolating to one degree or another. Thanks for sharing! *(Side note) I love how Mr. David works in his garden with rubber boots and a tie!
An English Gentleman is always properly attired!
@@markfryer9880
He has standards to uphold.
Most spiffing.
thanks for your video passed 20 mins during this miserable lock down
Well done David! Good video, look after yourself! Perhaps show us how you service your scout car one day, amongst other things!
Yes, excellent suggestion.
Oh yes, that would be a pleasure to watch! :)
Yes, good talk...
Excellent bit of improvisation. A masterclass on how to make a seemingly mundane item interesting. I look forward to more ! :-)
Thanks for the improvised chats
Well done for thinking out of the box, and helping to keep us all sane during this time! Thanks (Tanks?)!
16.00 very true, my grandparents told me that story. We still have jerrycans from '44. A german one with marking wd and an arrow, a few us ones with the screw cap and a black us one for water. It has jerrycan style lid but as big of a hole as the screw cap and it's got a white kind of paint inside.
The canister was not only an excellent container for fuel, it represented a logistical concept. Faced with the question of whether it was better to supply the mass of vehicles with a few tankers or individually with canisters, experts such as Adolf von Schell (General for Transport, 1893-1967) came to the conclusion that it would always be easier and, above all, faster to supply a large number of vehicles with at least 40 to 80 litres of diesel than to have to refuel an entire convoy of vehicles with individual tankers. 2 to 4 canisters can also easily be brought to a broken-down tank on a motorbike with a sidecar or a "Kübelwagen", the last few hundred metres through the fire zone on foot if necessary, but a tanker full of petrol on the battlefield would be a gift for the enemy.
Thankyou for taking the time to keep making content during these difficult times.
Top improvisation - its amusing as I was reading up on Jerry cans the other day - as I suspect its one of the most important world war 2 inventions, yet barely gets any attention.
You wont get many people excited about a gas can important or not
I'm blown away with with Jerry Can knowledge, Thanks David Willey. I hadn't thought about it before, but it does make sense why these cans were called "Jerry Cans". It's because the British named them. Calling Germans Jerry's is definitely British. Great show!
please do more of these, those 20 minutes went by like nothing and were very informative
39 thousand views says it all, keep them coming its all fascinating stuff
Wow learned something new. I always assumed the "Jerries" was just a shortening of German "Ger"
That could be a factor, and also "Jerry" is a name. And we have the parallels with "Tommy" for British soldiers (Kipling used the term in 1890, and "Thomas Atkins" was used nearly 150 years earlier). And, while the pairing of Tom and Jerry is pretty old, the well-known cartoons didn't start until 1940.
It's easy to get too clever about such things, but I don't think it was a simple, single, reference, however the usage started.
As he said, those were a couple possible origins. A simple shortening of “German” is also possible. A combination of things is also pretty likely.
Through WWI “Fritz” was far more common, with more pejorative terms “gun”, “heinie”, or “boche” also commonly used. It is kind of interesting how “Jerry” and “Kraut” rose to prominence just a generation later.
@@88porpoise Don't forget the Hun!
Don Vanduzen oops, I had a typo/autocorrect. I don’t they they ever referred to the Germans as “guns”
@@88porpoise lol
Look for the gun in the sun?
Many thanks for keeping me sane
Very nice video, and I've learned some new English words, like: that chair mr Willey was sitting on seemed a bit of a jerry build ;-)
Thanks to you history will not be lost
In German, they tend to add words together, in English, we take them apart, so: From 'bed chamber pot' via 'chamber pot' & 'potty' we arrive at the humble 'po', which is in turn rather convenient when you're desperate for a 'p'. So glad I'm a native : )
THAT'S how that word evolved!? Because Brits get lazy when speaking their own language?
I don't know if I'm impressed or frustrated.
I've told many a student the key to idiomatic English is lazyness.
@@saltech3444 - Brilliant! 'Peaux de Chambre' the fragrance of choice for gentlemen tankers . . . check our shop for details : )
Absolute pleasure to listen to your discourse.
A 20 min video on jerry cans. My man!
And yet, your production values are still better than some so-called professionals on the larger networks for these at home type broadcasts. Well done sir, well done.
There is something so British about someone sat in the middle of a field with a cuppa talking about interesting things
Indeed hehe. You just made me smile. Thanks.
I suspect that's actually a corner of his garden.
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 Where are the garden gnomes?
@@lyndoncmp5751 Gnomes are optional.
Well done David as always. During REFORGER in 1980 our 200+ vehicle convoy would stop on a side road lined with thousands of jerry cans to refuel, which were placed there and manned by a Bundeswehr logistics unit. You would stop your vehicle, grap some cans, fill up the vehicle, put the cans back on the side of the road and then move out. Total time was a bout 15 minutes for over 200 vehicles. Pretty clever.
These things still turn up in sheds across europe from time to time. I found 2 myself in a barn in the netherlands. Used for years by the farmer for his Daf and motorcycle/garden equipment.
our swiss army has thosands of them and you'll find thousands more all over switzerland... they're very handy to have for whatever fuel. especially farmers like them. and you can still buy brand new manufactured ones everywhere...
What a great design the Jerry can was. Still in use over 80 years later.
David, compelling viewing as always, thank you. Very relieved that you made it through the segment before your chair collapsed. Please repair before next use - a bit distracting for those concerned with workplace safety.
Yeah, that caught my eye in the first few seconds. Glad he didn't spill his tea!
I sincerely wish to thank all of the the youtube providers,
(is it possible to do that insincerely?)
who are not alarmist or narcissists or totally negative,
but are dedicated to giving interesting, informative content to all comers...
THANK YOU!
(and believe me
that thank you also goes to all first responders and the tired, distressed
medical workers too)
a tank chat... without a tank? someone call guinnise
Fueltank ?
@@jetstreamer374 I don't think the wife would have been happy about the lawn
Guinness?
fuel tank!
"Brilliant! Brilliant!" ("Please Mechanize Responsibly") "Brilliant!"
To sit down, and do a presentation to camera, off the cuff as it were, and make it lively and absorbing and a thoroughly entertaining is a measure of true professionalism. And of course am encyclopaedic knowledge. Top job there David.
This is great! I've been a logistics manager for almost all of my career. This is very fascinating to me, add some singing birds and David Willey presenting, and this is logistics history at its finest. Thanks for the great presentation and research.
My friend and I had a chat with David Willey earlier this week at the tank museum. I had watched quite a few tank chats so was excited to meet him in person and ask a few questions. My friend had no idea who he was but, after we spoke to him, became an instant fan haha. It's good to see that the tank museum is in good hands with people like David around.
This makes me interested on the nitty gritty of the mundane stuff about tanks and armoured vehicles. Like the uniforms of the Tank Crews. Maybe even feature the radio systems if possible
A whole series on the good ole # 19 Wireless Set !
I never thought i'd watch a video about jerry cans, and i never thought i'd ever enjoy one! Thanks. More mundane topics please!
A million gallons from D Day beaches to the front per day, via Jerry cans. Staggering feat.
Even more staggering when you start adding on other supplies. Like food for 1 million servicemen, times a couple of meals per day.
Ammo, at about 120 men in a company, times average 100 rounds a man (riflemen, MG would be a lot more), times I dont know how many companies.
It starts to boggle the mind.
Thomas Dosman yes indeed, mind-boggling and surely one of the greatest, if not the greatest logistical achievement in history. Teamwork in extremis.
I will never look at the humble Jerry Can the same again!
I'm sure this is only an intro to the series - David has also has a Jagd Tiger in his garden as an ornament.
Its behind him, you can just see the barrel sticking out.
Bet he has a Matilda,
Thank you David, I enjoyed your broadcast and as an NHS front line member of staff who enjoys history and your tank chats please keep them going.
"'Inflammable' means flammable? What a country!"
Oh Dr Nick
"inflammable" is earlier, both with the same Latin origin. "inflammare" is slightly different to "flammare" becuase of how Latin works. English has both meaning the same thing. "Highly Inflammable" sticks as a warning label but "flammable" has become more common.
Not any more - the term 'flammable' is now used in the UK
Imflammable has also meant flammable. Used in a few places for a while because inflammable was thought to mean not flammable by some (cf words like inactive and incapacitated). To prevent confusion in the air and cargo shipping industries it was formalised and simplified to flammable/not flammable.
People tend not to say 'a flammable situation'. I supose people get inflamed, getting flamed might lead to a different mental picture.
@@jjsmallpiece9234
Not by me it aint!
Wow. A year has passed already. These chats kept me going throughout lockdown and I really miss them. I used to look forward to every release. Loved Fynn as well. What a star.
We are lucky to live in a much freer area. Very little of the lockdown foolishness.
You should call this something like “on the home front” and talk about various parts of what life was like for average people during the world wars
That's a great idea ! I second that
The WW2 in real-time channel is doing that exact thing
Yeah that’s where the idea came from. I would love to see what the curator of a museum would have to say on the subject of life on the home front.
Great presentation. My dad was in the 8th Army in North Africa. getting chased backwards and forwards by Rommel. He was a sapper and everything said in the presentation about the Jerry Can and the British petrol cans, he told me 50 years ago. Chatting as a kid, he told me how good the Jerry cans were, how much the British petrol cans leaked and driving trucks full of them while being shelled by German 88s. He said he was very lucky to survive, and many of his friends did not come back. Nick.
I wondering from the start "Why has he got a chamber pot next him?" Thank god it didn't get awkward... GREAT alternative chat, now's the time to go into the little details that can get missed because tanks are too sexy not to focus on.
Thank you David. I hope you and all the staff stay safe and well.
How about a video about the factories / companies that produced AFV’s. Should get several vids and of course photos of such sites are on the web. I note that in the comments of David’s latest Centurion vid John Smith added links to a picture of the tank factory
Oh David Willey having a chat to us about tanks... I can listen for days!
12:47 in 1980 we had to take two FULL cans in every hand to fuel up our M 48 American tanks in the German Heide around Munster when we tried to fight the Russians in exercise.
Thomas Herbst crikey, those M48’s must have been on their last legs! 105mm?
It’s great to see that not even a pandemic can stop you. You are an inspiration. Another great video.
"What will I give the talk about?" "Dunno. Just grab something from your garage."
Thank you for your efforts on keeping the chats going David. Much appreciated here in New York.
I have two Swiss surplus Jerry cans in my yard barn along with a very old round steel 5 gal gas can. The heavy duty steel fuel containers are much better than the thin steel or light weight plastic containers.
This is exactly the sort of stuff I'd like to hear. Thanks, David, that was fascinating.
How British can one get? Wellies, tea, in the garden, in front of a hedge, telling us a bit of history, and how we nicked something from those foreign chaps. Well played, Sir.
I never thought I would enjoy a documentary about Jerry cans this much. Thank you very much for continuing to make your excellent videos even in these turmultous times.
I only realised Jerry cans were called that because of their German origin a couple weeks ago. Never really thought about it before
I pieced that together a while ago, but without the context of its origin, it always bothered me. Thankfully, this video helped to settle that little mystery.
Thank you, David Willey. An inspired improvised chat. Loved it.
When serving in Germany with the BAOR, I heard 'Jerry-built' referred to those buildings built during post-war occupation by German POWs being used as forced labour. Not surprisingly, their heart wasn't in it.
Thank you SO much for this video. In a period of crisis, here you are continuing to keep us all informed in an entertaining fashion, with the minimum of kit. Bravo!
I believe I read in "The Tank War" by Mark Urban, that refilling tanks in the desert was extremely dangerous, using the flimsy British cans. They took it in turns to don fireproof clothing to do the actual pouring....while the rest of the crew stood by with fire extinguishers, for the crew member on fire !!
I do not think so. From 1954 to 1966 - in Egypt, Cyrenaica, Singapore, Malaya and two 3 year spells in BAOR we NEVER took precautions - apart from not smoking! The petrol tank - on some trucks - was above shoulder height making it very difficult - and wasteful! - to re-fuel. After return to Barracks from exercises the first job was to top up the tanks. Hoisting up to 8 or 9 full Jerrycans was no mean feat!!!!!!!
Ted Jones You don't think so !! Your military service 10 years later makes you an expert !! I'll get back to you with a reference as soon as time permits.
@@californiadreamin8423 I am not reputing your comments only the source that has got it wrong. I am not an expert but I filled an awful lot of petrol tanks from Jerrycans. I even fried an egg on a Halftrack mudguard - nothing to do with this thread but maybe interesting! My memory of those days go back a bit further than 10 years, more like 60. These days far more precautions are taken, I suppose, but I think that in Desert Storm the Squaddie, tired, cold and possibly wet had one thought before he got his head down! Let's get this so and so job done as quickly as possible and sod the rules. If there were any rules then I didn't know of them and as a Colour Sgt I think that I would have especially if there was any risk.
Ted Jones My post referred to the use of the flimsy containers used before Jerry cans came into widespread use.
@@californiadreamin8423 My apologies.