Story By : Maj Gen Harvijay Singh, SM

An Army marches on a bellyful of Fuel. It is a logistician nightmare. It adds or takes away momentum from an offensive. Mobile Combat Teams/Groups and Communication detachments all require small portable containers to feed them fuel in operations while on the move.

Hitler knew this well. He perceived early on 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. As a result, the German army had thousands of ‘jerrycans’, as they came to be called, stored and ready when hostilities began in 1939.

The ‘jerrycan’ was developed under great secrecy, and its unique features were many:

Its capacity was approximately 22 Litres.

For ease of storage, it was flat-sided and rectangular in shape.

It had two halves welded together as in a typical automobile gasoline tank for balance.

It had three handles, enabling one man to carry two cans and pass one to another man in bucket-brigade fashion.

Thanks to an air chamber at the top, it would float on water.

Its short spout was secured with a snap closure that could be propped open for pouring, making unnecessary any funnel or opener.

A gasket made the mouth leak proof.

An air-breathing tube from the spout to the air space kept the pouring smooth.

And most important, the can’s inside was lined with an impervious plastic material developed for the insides of steel beer barrels, this enabled the ‘jerrycan’ to be used alternately for gasoline and water.

Read the full story here:- https://expressindianews.com/Opinion/2957/The-___JERRYCAN____-its-Indian-Connection.html