Editions Heimdal

Jerrycan: 70 year-old and still in service

by  Philippe Leger

Reviewed By  Chuck Bush, IPMS# 42838

MSRP: $39.95 ISBN: 978-2-84048-244-4 Web site: www.casematepublishing.com There are people who collect Jerrycans! SWMBO (She who must be obeyed): "I don’t see why you need another old gas can! You have a garage full you never use!" Jerry, can collector: "But honey, this is a rare Fischer 1940 and the Heer inscription stamped on the bottom." This book is aimed at that kind of collector, but it’s packed with excellent information for us scale modelers too. Especially armor modelers. This is a hard cover 8 ½ by 11 ½ book consisting of 160 pages with 300 color photos. There are also numerous photos from WWII showing jerry cans in use, with some great diorama ideas among them. The text is in both French and English and the translation is very well done. Picture captions are also in both languages. There are chapters covering cans from Germany (they invented the Jerrycan as we know it), the United States, England, Italy, France, and Switzerland. The photos show the cans in great detail, including cap types, pourers, construction, and markings. A chapter covers the use of metal tags for contents as used by both the United States and the British. The use of painted marking by the U.S. gets it’s own chapter. Chapter 10 covers civilian use of Jerrycans. At the end of the book is a look at the present German Army’s isothermal Jerrycan. Used to keep foods hot or cold, it comes with a set of mess tins, a ladle and a skimmer. Included is a bibliography of magazines, books, and web sites but no index. This is a lavishly illustrated, authoritative work on a long overlooked subject. It is a must-have for military historians and modelers alike. I highly recommend it. I would like to thank Casemate Publishing and IPMS/USA for the review copy of this excellent book.

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