As a young fella, i did 9 years with the army reserve. Later, for fun, I did another decade of military re-enacting. I can confirm the life-saving qualities of a pause for a brew. I learned that the can of sand and petrol type boiler, was called a Benghazi burner. Something the desert rats used extensively. Its not a good idea to add extra petrol while its still hot though. Boom!
I’m going back to watch this again! You two crack me up. Watching you try to make a cup of tea as soldiers did, as this American girl just poured a fresh cup of hot coffee conveniently made and ready for me when I woke up this morning, really reminds me just how thankful I am for the suffering and inconvenience (frankly cold/wet misery) the soldiers endured that I would be free. Humbling!!
James is my absolute hero, he has lived his life working for a passion and turned it into a career, the places he has visited, the people he must have met I am sure give him a lifetime of memories, but his passion and child like enthusiasm for the subject come through so much in this series, balanced by the wonderful perspective offered by Al, the two work so well together the presentation of the information given and how the soldiers had the challenges in the areas they visit are unique. The subject matter you speak about always comes down to the individual soldier and in the way this is undertaken the respect for what they were trying to achieve comes through, there are so many individual stories every one of them a hero. I literally sit on the edge of my chair waiting for new content to come out, I hope you are getting the genuine views unlike some independent history presenters are experiencing with significant decrease in numbers. We must always tell their story, I hope one day I get the opportunity to meet James and thank him for telling their story, I definately need to go and find his book on the Sherwood Rangers and Stanley Christopherson. 🥰
Boys! Hexxy blocks are covered in wax for storage. Break a block into 2. And try and light an exposed broken edge, and it'll burn almost immediately. 😉
When i was a boy and struggling to light the fire my dad would say that he could light a fire with one match, green wood, in the pouring rain. He landed at Juno.
Every second of this series has been great but watching you try to light that hexi was painful! Break the hexi up but light it with not directly the lighter, the cardboard box (that the hexi comes in) is covered in wax. Tear a strip off, light that and use that to light your hexi.
Thanks for the vids, I am a British army veteran of Bosnia/Iraq etc l love this series so Thanks James and Al, I cycled around Normandy last year with another veteran friend and loved it so much I am taking my kids this year and also taking a load more veterans over next year to cycle to the British memorial on the 6th.
Hahaha! Watching you trying to light Hexi tablets in a field environment just made me laugh and gave me flash backs to my time serving… the pain with them is real and universal…. Throw in the issued matches we’d get in ration packs, often ended where you’d simply give up and eat cold.
"We are saddened to learn the passing of James Holland and Al Murray today, after they were blown up trying to light a WW2 burner to make tea. The French authorities said that Al was found in a field 200 yards away to the left, whilst James was found in a ditch 150 yards in the other direction". It does go to show though how much the average 'Tommy' soldier actually had to learn in order to be Battle & Field ready. I doubt any of them knew how to put up the chairs or light the burner beforehand. Great video series guys. Really enjoying it, along with the Podcast.
That was absolutely classic. As a longtime afflicted, having listened to all the WHW podcasts as well as being an IC member, I absolutely love seeing you boys together. The interaction is fantastic. Your work and passion is very impressive. I have laughed and learnt so much. Thank you.
That bit in a previous episode where you said ‘no one would mistake us for officers’, err, I think the first 5 minutes of this vid proves otherwise. Typically inept Rupert behaviour.
As children we would laugh at our dad because he drank copious cups of tea and never refused one when offered, he also loved corned beef and peach slices with condensed milk for puddings It was only later after reading many books about british soldiers during the war that i realised why he loved this type of food fayre
Hexamine tablets are now illegal, as of 01 Oct 23, in the UK. Possession will result in a 2 year prison sentence and fine... Terrorists can use them to make explosives, apparently.
@@neilbone9490 They are a _prohibited_ substance, with significant penalties for possession. You are correct you can apply for a licence to purchase - with appropriate photoID - but there are still businesses out there selling it, unknowing of the extension to the regulations. As a result of this change, toymaker Mamod went out of business.
....oh good lord. Plus the fact that Hexi is now a prohibited substance which carries a custodial sentence for possession of any quantity!! Brilliant. 😊
@OscarTahr Hi, Yep, it became a prohibited/controlled substance in the UK some time early this year. Apparently bad people know how to do bad things with it and make it go 💥!! It's utterly ridiculous. If they ban every household chemical that can readily be used to do bad things with, then they would need to close most high street DIY and Home stores!! I had accumulated a huge amount of it over a few years of collecting what cadets had not used and was being thrown away! I took it on my canoe trips and occasionally into the woods on bushcrafting trips and by pure chance, discovered, via a model railway enthusiasts website that it had suddenly been banned for sale in the UK and that possession of any quantity carried a custodial sentence!! Apparently live steam model engineers use it to heat their boilers....makes sense. But, no longer without a stupid Home Office Licence for purchase and possession. So, shortly before I moved house, I had to burn my entire stock, saved over years. It took bloody hours!! 😞 It is a ridiculous law and was not even well publicised! A close friend and big outdoor enthusiast who grew up being an Army cadet and is now an armed police officer had no idea whatsoever that this law had come in and was utterly baffled and appalled. I only discovered by chance, many months after the law had changed. Many other folk I know who also use it, had no idea and didn't believe me until they looked it up. All over the rest of the planet, you can still buy it and use it to cook on.....exactly what it's designed for. Admittedly, there are nicer and better things to use, but for me, with a great stock of free hexi, it was brilliant. All I ever wanted to do was use it to have a brew or help start a small fire to cook over.....what a fiasco.
@OscarTahr Hi! I posted a reply yesterday answering your question about Hexi being banned in the UK, but I cannot see it anywhere....! Another disappearing comment on TH-cam. In case it really has gone, the answer is, that at some point either late last year or earlier in 2024, Hexi became a prohibited/banned substance with a custodial sentence applicable for "possession of any quantity". Apparently, some bad people discovered a way to make it go 💥 The only possible exception to have it in your possession now would be to apply to the Home Office for the grant of a licence to obtain and hold a specified quantity for a specific exempt reason. For a civilian, that basically means you would not be granted a licence! I had accumulated a large stock of the stuff over many years working with cadets, who ( appallingly!) threw away a lot after each camp. All opened and partially used packs would just be ditched, so I 'recycled' it! It was excellent on my bushcraft and canoe trips as a way to brew up or use as an extender for fire lighting. Anyway, that has all gone now, as shortly after discovering, quite by chance, that it was banned, I burned all my stock. It took bloody hours!! It's utterly crazy. But there is your answer. There are better things and ways to run a stove or light a fire, but it was very useful. Hey ho. Hope this gets posted......
@@lawrencemartin1113 That's just unfathomable. What is happening to your country. Here, we positively encourage kids to buy it. Lots of better options but the simplicity of a simple hex stove is a great intro to brewing up. I still carry a few for emergencies Some people are joyless chunts, arent they
@OscarTahr Absolutely!! The UK is crashing and burning at present. It's not a great place to be for so many. Despite the amazing things it has to offer, successive governments of varying parties, have slowly destroyed it from within. Small but significant negative changes every day that are gradually bringing the place to its knees. It's terribly sad to see. This particular episode was also one of those 'little laws' that was introduced with absolutely no pre-warning or publicity within the communities it would affect the most. The way I discovered it was through a random TH-cam video from a large scale model railway engineer, who was explaining that their community, had overnight, lost its ability to buy hexi to heat the boilers in their live steam trains! I thought it was an April fools day prank!
Love this episode and tea is for victory. I remember reading (in a James Holland book?) about how the Americans criticised the Brits for needing a good brew before the next advance, I would need plenty of them. Recent convert to a jet boil, so good.
Are you sure you two aren't Bosche fith columnists? 😉 After all not knowing how to brew tea properly was how Anthony Quayle gave himself away as German spy in Ice Cold In Alex 😅
My Great-grandfather witnessed Americans who had been issued pre-heated and warmed Thanksgiving dinners in foil-covered dinner trays swapping it for British corned beef rations. He and the other British troops fighting their way up Italy were happy to make the swap. The dregs of the tea ration would also be used to shave.
Nice one. A very enjoyable and informative channel. I'll go out on a limb and suggest that those blokes in June 1944 would have mastered the art of making a brew (tea or coffee) in the shortest period of time, in any weather.
Break the Hexi block - a sharper, broken corner will light more easily. More surface area also burns faster & you'll save fuel if you don't need a whole block to boil your water. ... and don't put the big mess tin on upside down, i'll just get dirty on the inside. ....the random bit of spare yn is for a metal mug.
Father in law Harry Pollitt landed with the Pioneer Corps D-Day plus one at Courseulles on Juno beach. He said he never got his feet wet stepping from the landing craft. The first thing they did was get into the dunes and brew up.
Ah, the old comedy deckchair routine... Love it... but some of those angles were not your best, Al. Great bit of ration pack chat too... You chaps have to stop being so interesting and entertaining as I am meant to be doing other things and your videos are infectious watching!! 😆
God, you can tell Holland never did cadets. Should broken the block, shielded it from the wind and used some of the cardboard and anything else with it as kindling to surround the block and get the heat up rather than flicking at it with a zippo.
It was usual when lighting a hexy burner was to partially bury the frame so the wind didn't affect it, ps lighting was better using the all weather matches....An ExXIX
I was watching this and i was struck by the similarity of Last of the Summer wine Foggie always wore an army jacket and your wearing an old army Jacket The other guy looks like Compo and only needs the wellies It is so funny May be Last Of the Battlefield guides should be the title
Shows what a struggle things were back then. Forces in the field have it much easier with modern day equipment and rations. Self heating food packs etc 😊
Bear Grylls is deeply disappointed in both of you. So is every infantryman in the past 85 years, myself included. I had to light a fire in the rain with 1 match; I cheated, using a second because the head of the 1st broke and flew away somewhere. If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.
Was the British assault ration pack only given to the d day troops and then used compo after they had gained a foot hold in France? I know the guys over at living history do an amazing reproduction of the assault rations
The theory was that personnel landing in the assault phase (not just assault troops) would each carry 2x 24hr or assault packs. Thereafter, compo would be issued, theoretically for unit messing, but inevitably issued down to the coal face a lot of the time. As the situation stabilised, the hope was for the fresh 'field service' ration to be issued as soon as possible.
Astounded you can’t light a Hexamine stove. I used one for camping for many years as a teenager and young man. You could also use firelighters which were cheaper. I take a 40 year old Trangia that runs of meths to a music festival. Only boil water. My younger companions have started borrowing it because it’s ridiculously reliable. Guess what they’re investing in next year. My son bought a battery grinder and one mug cafetière this year.
I do the same ! Off to be an Oxfam steward at a festival tomorrow and will be taking my Swedish Army Trangia. Also use MK MRE as they fit perfectly into the pan. Don't worry about hot water for tea or coffee as we have a kettle in the Oxfam mess tent..
You see, had you been smokers as in the 1940’s you would have carried lighter fluid. As a smoker in 2024 you would carry a wind cheater. If you where brewing up for real, you would get a big roll, cover it in lighter fluid. Dug a small pit, put the bog roll in the pit, cover it in twigs and stuff and light the bog roll. Instant fire and brew up. Just saying. 😇
How many books.phds and doctorates do these two have ? But never heard of waterproof matches that come in every ration pack ? Lol I carry a pack on all my walking camping trips .
I saw the hexy block, the wind whipping James’ hair around, and thought “he may be there a while.” Many a day on Longmoor with the cadets spent with those bloody things.
We need to get some "Tea is for Victory" t-shirts!
@@pauldavidson1866 People need to keep liking this because you never know what might happen!
I'd buy one.
As a young fella, i did 9 years with the army reserve. Later, for fun, I did another decade of military re-enacting. I can confirm the life-saving qualities of a pause for a brew.
I learned that the can of sand and petrol type boiler, was called a Benghazi burner. Something the desert rats used extensively. Its not a good idea to add extra petrol while its still hot though. Boom!
I love how Al does a quick prayer before getting on the chair. As men of a certain physique we often do.
Ah, but getting back out of the chair, that is the real poser when we reach a certain age & physique 😄
Blimey. All these comments and nobody picked up he was trying to set light the whole box of hexi. Dying laughing. Great episode!
I saw that, nearly choked on my Tea
I clocked that with a "what are you doing, man!?" 😂
I was shouting at the screen and pissing myself at the same time.
Makes me laugh that he is trying to light it behind a metal box and not inside it.
I went cold and muttered “no!no!no!no! 🤦♂️……..thank God I joined the armoured corps and had a BV
I’m going back to watch this again! You two crack me up. Watching you try to make a cup of tea as soldiers did, as this American girl just poured a fresh cup of hot coffee conveniently made and ready for me when I woke up this morning, really reminds me just how thankful I am for the suffering and inconvenience (frankly cold/wet misery) the soldiers endured that I would be free. Humbling!!
James is my absolute hero, he has lived his life working for a passion and turned it into a career, the places he has visited, the people he must have met I am sure give him a lifetime of memories, but his passion and child like enthusiasm for the subject come through so much in this series, balanced by the wonderful perspective offered by Al, the two work so well together the presentation of the information given and how the soldiers had the challenges in the areas they visit are unique. The subject matter you speak about always comes down to the individual soldier and in the way this is undertaken the respect for what they were trying to achieve comes through, there are so many individual stories every one of them a hero. I literally sit on the edge of my chair waiting for new content to come out, I hope you are getting the genuine views unlike some independent history presenters are experiencing with significant decrease in numbers. We must always tell their story, I hope one day I get the opportunity to meet James and thank him for telling their story, I definately need to go and find his book on the Sherwood Rangers and Stanley Christopherson. 🥰
Boys! Hexxy blocks are covered in wax for storage. Break a block into 2. And try and light an exposed broken edge, and it'll burn almost immediately. 😉
When i was a boy and struggling to light the fire my dad would say that he could light a fire with one match, green wood, in the pouring rain. He landed at Juno.
Every second of this series has been great but watching you try to light that hexi was painful!
Break the hexi up but light it with not directly the lighter, the cardboard box (that the hexi comes in) is covered in wax. Tear a strip off, light that and use that to light your hexi.
Thanks for the vids, I am a British army veteran of Bosnia/Iraq etc l love this series so Thanks James and Al, I cycled around Normandy last year with another veteran friend and loved it so much I am taking my kids this year and also taking a load more veterans over next year to cycle to the British memorial on the 6th.
Only in this series does making a cuppa takes so long the director has to step in 😂
Its such a silly little episode throughly enjoyed it.
It says so much by saying a little.... Brilliant!
Hahaha! Watching you trying to light Hexi tablets in a field environment just made me laugh and gave me flash backs to my time serving… the pain with them is real and universal…. Throw in the issued matches we’d get in ration packs, often ended where you’d simply give up and eat cold.
You didn't carry a lighter?
Where there is tea, there is hope..
On exercise with the Americans in the 80s. Wagon turns up, sides drop down. Steak and chips. We bin our rations and blag our way in.
"We are saddened to learn the passing of James Holland and Al Murray today, after they were blown up trying to light a WW2 burner to make tea. The French authorities said that Al was found in a field 200 yards away to the left, whilst James was found in a ditch 150 yards in the other direction".
It does go to show though how much the average 'Tommy' soldier actually had to learn in order to be Battle & Field ready. I doubt any of them knew how to put up the chairs or light the burner beforehand.
Great video series guys. Really enjoying it, along with the Podcast.
Was it a ditch or a culvert?
Ditch or culvert?
That was absolutely classic. As a longtime afflicted, having listened to all the WHW podcasts as well as being an IC member, I absolutely love seeing you boys together. The interaction is fantastic. Your work and passion is very impressive. I have laughed and learnt so much. Thank you.
That bit in a previous episode where you said ‘no one would mistake us for officers’, err, I think the first 5 minutes of this vid proves otherwise.
Typically inept Rupert behaviour.
As children we would laugh at our dad because he drank copious cups of tea and never refused one when offered, he also loved corned beef and peach slices with condensed milk for puddings It was only later after reading many books about british soldiers during the war that i realised why he loved this type of food fayre
It's been 25 years since I was an army cadet and still that hexi block moment was painful to watch! 😂
Never has such incompetence in the field in front of the enemy fighting with a hexi been seen in combat.
Hexamine tablets are now illegal, as of 01 Oct 23, in the UK. Possession will result in a 2 year prison sentence and fine... Terrorists can use them to make explosives, apparently.
The attempt at lighting while still in the box. Joyous! 😊
Trying to light the box initially 😂😂😂
@@wessexdruid7598they are controlled not illegal. You need a licence that costs £39.50 and is valid for 3 years.
@@neilbone9490 They are a _prohibited_ substance, with significant penalties for possession. You are correct you can apply for a licence to purchase - with appropriate photoID - but there are still businesses out there selling it, unknowing of the extension to the regulations.
As a result of this change, toymaker Mamod went out of business.
....oh good lord. Plus the fact that Hexi is now a prohibited substance which carries a custodial sentence for possession of any quantity!! Brilliant. 😊
Its illegal? Is that in the UK? That's crazy. The stuff is in every outdoor/scout/camping store here in NZ, even some general sports stores.
@OscarTahr
Hi,
Yep, it became a prohibited/controlled substance in the UK some time early this year. Apparently bad people know how to do bad things with it and make it go 💥!! It's utterly ridiculous. If they ban every household chemical that can readily be used to do bad things with, then they would need to close most high street DIY and Home stores!!
I had accumulated a huge amount of it over a few years of collecting what cadets had not used and was being thrown away! I took it on my canoe trips and occasionally into the woods on bushcrafting trips and by pure chance, discovered, via a model railway enthusiasts website that it had suddenly been banned for sale in the UK and that possession of any quantity carried a custodial sentence!! Apparently live steam model engineers use it to heat their boilers....makes sense. But, no longer without a stupid Home Office Licence for purchase and possession.
So, shortly before I moved house, I had to burn my entire stock, saved over years. It took bloody hours!! 😞
It is a ridiculous law and was not even well publicised! A close friend and big outdoor enthusiast who grew up being an Army cadet and is now an armed police officer had no idea whatsoever that this law had come in and was utterly baffled and appalled. I only discovered by chance, many months after the law had changed. Many other folk I know who also use it, had no idea and didn't believe me until they looked it up. All over the rest of the planet, you can still buy it and use it to cook on.....exactly what it's designed for. Admittedly, there are nicer and better things to use, but for me, with a great stock of free hexi, it was brilliant. All I ever wanted to do was use it to have a brew or help start a small fire to cook over.....what a fiasco.
@OscarTahr Hi!
I posted a reply yesterday answering your question about Hexi being banned in the UK, but I cannot see it anywhere....! Another disappearing comment on TH-cam.
In case it really has gone, the answer is, that at some point either late last year or earlier in 2024, Hexi became a prohibited/banned substance with a custodial sentence applicable for "possession of any quantity". Apparently, some bad people discovered a way to make it go 💥
The only possible exception to have it in your possession now would be to apply to the Home Office for the grant of a licence to obtain and hold a specified quantity for a specific exempt reason. For a civilian, that basically means you would not be granted a licence!
I had accumulated a large stock of the stuff over many years working with cadets, who ( appallingly!) threw away a lot after each camp. All opened and partially used packs would just be ditched, so I 'recycled' it! It was excellent on my bushcraft and canoe trips as a way to brew up or use as an extender for fire lighting. Anyway, that has all gone now, as shortly after discovering, quite by chance, that it was banned, I burned all my stock. It took bloody hours!!
It's utterly crazy. But there is your answer. There are better things and ways to run a stove or light a fire, but it was very useful. Hey ho. Hope this gets posted......
@@lawrencemartin1113 That's just unfathomable. What is happening to your country.
Here, we positively encourage kids to buy it. Lots of better options but the simplicity of a simple hex stove is a great intro to brewing up. I still carry a few for emergencies
Some people are joyless chunts, arent they
@OscarTahr
Absolutely!! The UK is crashing and burning at present. It's not a great place to be for so many. Despite the amazing things it has to offer, successive governments of varying parties, have slowly destroyed it from within. Small but significant negative changes every day that are gradually bringing the place to its knees.
It's terribly sad to see.
This particular episode was also one of those 'little laws' that was introduced with absolutely no pre-warning or publicity within the communities it would affect the most. The way I discovered it was through a random TH-cam video from a large scale model railway engineer, who was explaining that their community, had overnight, lost its ability to buy hexi to heat the boilers in their live steam trains! I thought it was an April fools day prank!
Love this episode and tea is for victory. I remember reading (in a James Holland book?) about how the Americans criticised the Brits for needing a good brew before the next advance, I would need plenty of them. Recent convert to a jet boil, so good.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching
Are you sure you two aren't Bosche fith columnists? 😉 After all not knowing how to brew tea properly was how Anthony Quayle gave himself away as German spy in Ice Cold In Alex 😅
A brew is steadying, a punctuation mark in the day.
It adds a bit of normality and comfort.
What a comedy moment 🤣 😂you two trying to make tea 🍵 🎉🎉
Well that explains why XXX corps took so long to get to Arnhem, each tea break takes 3 hours to get a brew made 😂
The camp chairs are known by us in the RNBCR as the "Chairs of Despair"........ greetings from sunny Malta....
My Great-grandfather witnessed Americans who had been issued pre-heated and warmed Thanksgiving dinners in foil-covered dinner trays swapping it for British corned beef rations. He and the other British troops fighting their way up Italy were happy to make the swap. The dregs of the tea ration would also be used to shave.
Al using all his Taskmaster experience there to put that chair together.
That’s why a Zippo lighter was always carried
More likely a Ronson or had GI’s “lost” their Zippo’s?
Nice one. A very enjoyable and informative channel. I'll go out on a limb and suggest that those blokes in June 1944 would have mastered the art of making a brew (tea or coffee) in the shortest period of time, in any weather.
Comedy Gold Blend. Follow Al and James next week when they attempt to cook toast.
I dont know what made me laugh more...the time it took to put the chair together or getting the fire lit. Great video
Break the Hexi block - a sharper, broken corner will light more easily. More surface area also burns faster & you'll save fuel if you don't need a whole block to boil your water.
... and don't put the big mess tin on upside down, i'll just get dirty on the inside.
....the random bit of spare yn is for a metal mug.
What a joyful combination
Hexi in windy weather was always hard to light, one of them jet gas lighters are cool. However, jet boilers rules . I love your videos.
Apart from very cold winters, it was also very windy. Well done fellas, first time for everything.
I hope you've got a licence for that Hexi if you're in the UK...
after every fire mission we used to do, the immediate action was to get straight to the BV and get a brew on without fail! somethings never change
Thanks
Wind proof matches for next time, chaps!
I didn’t think I’d be happy seeing a couple of Brits ‘brew up’, as in the tank phrase!
This is a really good addition it would be good to see more of you guys having a brew to sum things up
@@MrSamsmithmard Well you are in luck! As there are two more Brew Ups in this Normandy season.
Should call this 2 civviies with hexi and a squaddie with a jet boil 😂
Need to take you to survival school Banger. Loved the episode.
Everything stops for tea
loved this.
Hmm, The Captain could recite the ingredients in his ration pack😂❤❤
Father in law Harry Pollitt landed with the Pioneer Corps D-Day plus one at Courseulles on Juno beach. He said he never got his feet wet stepping from the landing craft. The first thing they did was get into the dunes and brew up.
Stranelgly compelling. Although i would like to see them both try out the actual K rations as i would like to know what they were like.
Pub landlord would be incandescent at that display of British tea making incompetence!
We are launching in t minus 60 secSOMEONE SAID TEA
thank you for video
Wasn't James in the scouts?
Clearly not 😂
The question is how old were those hex tablets? They are basically ladened with petrol and if they are old they're not going to light
Ah, the old comedy deckchair routine... Love it... but some of those angles were not your best, Al.
Great bit of ration pack chat too...
You chaps have to stop being so interesting and entertaining as I am meant to be doing other things and your videos are infectious watching!! 😆
Ah, a nice hot sweet milky tea and a hexi TV... now that's soldiering!
If I was filming this I’d be in stitches 😂
You’d want to be in their company, so long as they make their own brews and the comms guy kept away from them, we’ve got at least a fortnight here 😂
😂😂 fantastic bet it was worth waiting for
Two men a field and a lighter…. How did the story go? Great stuff chaps 😊👍
Really enjoyed the video mate
God, you can tell Holland never did cadets. Should broken the block, shielded it from the wind and used some of the cardboard and anything else with it as kindling to surround the block and get the heat up rather than flicking at it with a zippo.
👍 O dear it's not difficult to use hexi... Get it out of the wind.... And use the matches! 😊
It was usual when lighting a hexy burner was to partially bury the frame so the wind didn't affect it, ps lighting was better using the all weather matches....An ExXIX
The Odd Couple - Tommy Edition.
I was watching this and i was struck by the similarity of Last of the Summer wine Foggie always wore an army jacket and your wearing an old army Jacket The other guy looks like Compo and only needs the wellies It is so funny May be Last Of the Battlefield guides should be the title
Shows what a struggle things were back then. Forces in the field have it much easier with modern day equipment and rations. Self heating food packs etc 😊
I am a Viking fighting reenactor. Flint and steel...
Where's @steve1989 when you need him?
Bear Grylls is deeply disappointed in both of you. So is every infantryman in the past 85 years, myself included. I had to light a fire in the rain with 1 match; I cheated, using a second because the head of the 1st broke and flew away somewhere. If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.
We can only apologise to the Bear and all infantrymen for any offence caused by our woeful field craft.
Isn't hexamine illegal these days. Another part of my youth taken away
Why, yes it is! Unless you give someone money for a license then all of the sudden it's strangely not illegal 🤷♂️
This is epically funny.
Shouldn’t they be in Villers Bocage doing this
Back in the day, they used a Zippo 😂
Brewing Up, except not the Billy Bragg version.
in the ratio pack the biscuits were known as AB biscuits which meant alternate to bread, but everyone knew them as anal blockers
Al has spent time in Germany I see.
James; "This is really good"
Al; "It is not bad"
He has been infected! He is half German.
Jet burner all the way
Great use of the term "Putz..."
Please turn off the split audio between left and right
Was the British assault ration pack only given to the d day troops and then used compo after they had gained a foot hold in France? I know the guys over at living history do an amazing reproduction of the assault rations
The theory was that personnel landing in the assault phase (not just assault troops) would each carry 2x 24hr or assault packs. Thereafter, compo would be issued, theoretically for unit messing, but inevitably issued down to the coal face a lot of the time.
As the situation stabilised, the hope was for the fresh 'field service' ration to be issued as soon as possible.
Luftwaffe engineers box😊
Astounded you can’t light a Hexamine stove. I used one for camping for many years as a teenager and young man. You could also use firelighters which were cheaper.
I take a 40 year old Trangia that runs of meths to a music festival. Only boil water. My younger companions have started borrowing it because it’s ridiculously reliable. Guess what they’re investing in next year. My son bought a battery grinder and one mug cafetière this year.
I do the same ! Off to be an Oxfam steward at a festival tomorrow and will be taking my Swedish Army Trangia. Also use MK MRE as they fit perfectly into the pan. Don't worry about hot water for tea or coffee as we have a kettle in the Oxfam mess tent..
No soya or almond milk in those days
👏👏👏👍👍👍
Starting the Hexi block was painful to watch.
No, it was hilarious 😂
They'd both be in Stalag Luft III before you could say, for you Tommy Ze war is over;)
PTM...M!!!!!
PTM?
@@belbrighton6479 Prepare to move….move
@@markienatnots9479 thank you, as a civvie I really enjoy learning the acronyms. 😎
@@belbrighton6479 my pleasure.
This is what comes of your mother telling you not to play with matches ... 😉
You see, had you been smokers as in the 1940’s you would have carried lighter fluid. As a smoker in 2024 you would carry a wind cheater. If you where brewing up for real, you would get a big roll, cover it in lighter fluid. Dug a small pit, put the bog roll in the pit, cover it in twigs and stuff and light the bog roll. Instant fire and brew up. Just saying. 😇
you are two wendy's blouses ! lol my 6 year old daughter could do a better job with a hexi block
I’ve honestly seen 12 year old army cadets with better cooking in the field skills… 😂
😂
How many books.phds and doctorates do these two have ? But never heard of waterproof matches that come in every ration pack ? Lol I carry a pack on all my walking camping trips .
Brew up then onto Fritz what
Good to see CCF training and preparation kicking in there…🪖👍🏻
I saw the hexy block, the wind whipping James’ hair around, and thought “he may be there a while.” Many a day on Longmoor with the cadets spent with those bloody things.
I guess they missed the cooking in the field lesson. 😂
Wind proof matches for next time, chaps!