WWII jerry cans go to school

[armydriver]

We recently had a class discussion on my Advanced History classes about the Red Ball Express. I devised a class activity involving 5 WWII jerry cans, 3 American, 1 German and 1 British can. The object was to simulate the physical exertion of loading a CCKW with fuel to transport to the front.
I filled the cans with water and placed them at the front of the classroom. At the back of the classroom were two tables, one stacked on top of the other. The object was for two students to transport the cans from the front of the classroom and lift the cans to the top table , for a total of ten times per can . Most could only manage two to three times before they were ready to quit.
It was a great exercise in demonstrating to the students how hard the drivers, relief drivers and swampers had to work when supplying the lfuel so badly needed for General Patton's tanks.
Boy's and girls had their opportunity to participate.
These only not hold fuel, they hold the opportunity to provide and education to the students of today.

[halifaxgroup]

Outstanding idea!!

[snow man]

That"s great AD way back when i was in school all they wanted to teach seem like was how great Europe was and the cradle of all knowledge. I wish Cesar could have road with Patton and the Third army ,he would have found out how to storm a country! Also all those jeep's ,haftracks,and tanks i Drew in class would have helped my grades.

[snow man]

[Barry Churcher]

AD, that's a great idea! How do you come up with these things? I wish you had been my history teacher. No, wait! On second thought, NOT. I just remembered how hard it is to lift a 5 gallon fuel can up to the hood of my tractor to fill it.
Cheers,
Barry

[mick.wilson]

Great idea, how many full Jerry cans would a Jimmy carryed ?

[armydriver]

I don't know, however you just gave me an idea for another lesson. Let them calculate the square footage of the bed, the the size of the jerry cans and see how many will fit in the truckl If they laid plywood on top of the first layer, they could carry twice as many. Thanks for the idea.

[mick.wilson]

Looks like a lot

[Barry Churcher]

If you look part way down the embankment on the left you will see a fuel transfer Ben Hur trailer. It looks like it is transferring fuel from the rail cars. I have another photo of the same scene but it is taken a little farther up. Does anyone have a closer photo of the trailer?
Cheers,
Barry

[armydriver]

Stacked three high, approximately 360 cans. That is 9 tons or 18,000 pounds of cans and gasoline. Pretty explosive ride. Definately do not throw out cigarettes while driving down the road. it is something I would not want to haul, considering these things are prone to some leakage due to the gaskets and not real tight lids.

[armydriver]

Note the wooden cargo boxs on these trucks.Think about this. With fuel leaking from the cans, I imagine that once these trucks hauled gasoline , hauling troops with a canvas cover would be pretty toxic to the passangers.

[Ledog]

Note the wooden cargo boxs on these trucks.Think about this. With fuel leaking from the cans, I imagine that once these trucks hauled gasoline , hauling troops with a canvas cover would be pretty toxic to the passangers.

Only for smoking passengers.

[mick.wilson]

Only for smoking passengers.

So how many non-smoking Germans can you fit in a fuel soaked Jimmy for the return journey back to the beachhead .

[Karoshi]

Armydriver. I think you'll find its 135 cans in a load. I'm just not sure how I know that !

Let me know what you work out.

[dr deuce]

At one time I had thought about making a false back for my cargo cckw out of rusted out Jerry cans by cutting them lengthwise and mounting them to a piece of plywood so they would look like they were stacked up in the back of the truck....

[armydriver]

Thanks Karoshi for the input. I was looking at the photo posted by Mick and if you look it appears that the cans are stacked three high, and if you count the cans in the closest truck in the photo and kind of round it off, that is where I cam up with the figure. 135 cans would probably be a lot safer to carry, as that would be just one level.
Doc, that sounds like a great idea with cans. Imagine how much fun you could have with hundreds of fifty caliber side latch ammo cans stacked in a CCKW.

[Karoshi]

Sorry Armydriver mislead you there, David P Colley on page 72 of "The Road to Victory" quotes in reference to the 3858th QM Gas Supply Company, that a "Basic load" was 125 cans.

So at 20ltrs per can = 2500ltrs or 550 galls Imperial = 4400 lbs of fuel. Plus the weight of the cans......and Mick, you worry me with what you might turn up with next!!

So how many non-smoking Germans can you fit in a fuel soaked Jimmy for the return journey back to the beachhead

[armydriver]

Thanks Karoshi, that is excellent information. I appreciate the input from all on this site. That is how we learn, because we were not there and have to use info like the photos and Karoshi's input to try to gain an understanding of what was going on then.

[Degsy]

Hi Karoshi
If you count the cans, tho' its difficult to be exact 125 cans would appear to constitute one layer so AD's count of 360 is not far out. One of the trucks in the pic has part of a 4th layer which would probably take the total
to something over 400 cans and since I have read several times trucks were being loaded with up to 10 tons at times this is what the pics would appear to show.
Cheers
Degsy

[Karoshi]

Oh sure, there's several further references to the Jimmy hauling 9 to 10 tons, such was the demand to get materiel to the front, and a couple of references to the "packing" of POWs for a return trip.