THE CAN THAT CAN

Who invented the jerrycan, what colour goes with which fuel type, and is it really superior to plastic containers? We answer these and other questions.

You may already know the basic history of the jerrycan: that the Germans invented this famous container during World War II, and that ‘Jerry’ was British slang for a German soldier. But the whole story is even more interesting… Back in the day, oil and fuel were sold to the public in square tin cans (shown top left here), the kind that co-ops and wholesalers still use today to hold cooking oil and paraffin. But during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, supported by Nazi Germany, they discovered that the soldered seams of these tin cans were prone to bursting open when treated roughly by careless soldiers.

Another kind of fuel container, one that resembled a sort of triangular briefcase (second from the top), was designed in 1928 by Vinzenz Grünvogel from the German engineering firm Eisenwerk Müller & Co. AG in Schwelm, Westphalia. It performed markedly better than the standard square tin cans that the army relied upon.

Grünvogel’s design impressed the German army, but feedback from soldiers involved in the Spanish Civil War suggested that the Wehrmacht would be even better served by rectangular fuel cans that could be stacked on top of one another. The German army’s other requirement was that one soldier should be able to carry one full can in each hand or four empty ones – two in each hand. The result was the Wehrmacht-einheitskanister, also known as the 20 ℓ jerrycan (shown third from the top).

After the Spanish Civil War, the German army stockpiled thousands of jerrycans in preparation for the imminent ‘lightning war’ or Blitzkrieg against Poland. Meanwhile, early in 1939, an American engineer named Paul Pleis, blissfully unaware of Adolf Hitler’s dastardly plans, embarked on a road trip from Germany to India with a fellow engineer from Germany. Pleis’ friend pinched a couple of jerrycans, which were hidden at the Berlin Tempelhof Airport, because he was certain they’d make excellent water containers for their challenging journey.

The invasion of Poland commenced, Europe declared war on Germany, and the two friends had to end their road trip. The German engineer was recalled to his homeland and Pleis returned to America where he presented this remarkable fuel can to the US Army.

The Yanks reverse engineered it into something they considered to be superior (shown bottom left). But the US Army version stuck with a traditional screw-on cap – which needed a tool to undo – rather than the jerrycan’s simple flip cap, and traditional soldered rolled seams instead of the jerrycan’s recessed welded seams.

When Britain and the United States took up arms against Germany, they discovered that both the old British tin cans and the American knock-offs were unable to withstand the rigours of war. The Allies admitted to their mistake and immediately began to capture German jerrycans and made exact copies which were significantly more reliable than their own leaking containers.

Today, 80 years later, the jerrycan is the standard fuel container for NATO military forces and off-road enthusiasts around the globe.