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crew of a British Light Tank Mk.VIB having a “brew up” and cooking their Christmas dinner beside their vehicle, in North Africa 1940
they are sitting on fuel or water containers and using a cut in half, empty can a “flimsy” infamous 4-Gallon non-returnable petrol tin for heating the food, referred to at the time as a “Banghazi Fire”. The tanker seated in the middle is holding what appears to be a cone top can of beer. Did they send canned beer out there?

Bottles in 1940 I can understand. But I did not know the British even drank beer or ale from cans in 1940. It was hard to get Americans to drink beer from cans in the 1930's

By the way that tank looks like a death trap

'To have a Brew' in British slang means to have some tea.

The can could be consended milk or something else they are having with it, but probably not beer, I've certainly never heard of it being available in the 1940s in cans!

Big_jo wrote:'To have a Brew' in British slang means to have some tea.

The can could be consended milk or something else they are having with it, but probably not beer, I've certainly never heard of it being available in the 1940s in cans!

Jo I was surprised at seeing the can and wonderd if it was something else. I could not find any evidence of cone top condensed milk. Every can I saw was flat top. The U.S. did send canned beer to the pacific and there are some photos of Soldiers Sailor and Marines drinking from subdued or OD drab finished cans.
Typical were Schlitz, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Iron City, Shaffer.

I looked long and hard at English Vintage Beer can collector websites
Found this 1935 (November): First non-US brewers use cans, Felinfoel and Tennents appear in the UK in cone tops.

There were at least 12 English brands brewed in cone top cans from 1935 to some point in the 1940's.
The can the tanker is holding is Red and White and looks like the Barclays Pilsner Lager Export can in the group photo.
I know very little of English Ale Beer and the like. I just wondered if they sent this to the battlefield as a Army special issue ration

Note one can is marked BOAC British Overseas Air Carrier. I don't know if they had a batch put in cans for passenger service.
Taking cans up in a passenger aircraft would be more practical in a 1940's view than bottles.

.... Beer and the like. I just wondered if they sent this to the battlefield as a Army special issue ration

...Norton

In my experience, it makes very little difference whether beer is a "special issue ration"...
Beer is beer.
It seems to almost magically appear in the hands of young men in the military no matter the circumstance, hardship, or remoteness of location.

Hi to all,

"Cone head" cans were introduced, as my friend Norton states, in the mid to late 1930s.

The tops of these were the standard bottle top, as on Coke bottles.

To my knowledge and after asking several veterans, beer was never supplied with rations.

The can in the photograph would probably have been sourced locally, the reason being that Lager or Pilsner Lager was not a common drink in England in the 30s or 40s. It was actually hard to find Lager in a British pub in the late 1960s / 1970s.

Porter, or better known as stout, bitter or mild were the most common beers drunk.

As one of the Lager cans shows, "Export".

In the 1950s film, "Ice Cold In Alex" all the survivors finish the film in a bar drinking Carlsberg lager, relatively unheard of here in England at the time.

Just one for all the ex military vehicle owners on here, as the German officer is driven away, there is a 1948 Series I, 80" SWB Landrover parked in the background in the square. .

Regards, Norman.

I have never heard of a beer in an army ration, but, eh, why not? a beer is always a beer. Is not a matter of getting drunk and drinking beer non stop but after a day of hard work a beer is always something worth drinking.

thanks for the pictures.

Luis

The US did have canned beer as a special issue for combat troops.

Note they were finished in OD or with non-bright colors

Awesome, I had not idea about these!

Hey Norton,

I think this a fascinating subject - and I was just talking to an old veteran yesterday out at a Drive-In Theater that holds a flea market every weekend in the mornings.. found some real treasures out there!
The fellow I talked to was a Vietnam Vet though, he told me the beer they were given was sometimes good like normal old PBR or a name brand - but sometimes they were given some generic beer that was very watery and flat and god awful. I wish he remembered what it was called or what it looked like. I'll have to coax some more info outta him next time I see the fella - he's always out there.

Oh boy - that British Mk.VIB is terrifying. Not only is it such tight quarters and it has a massively tall silhouette, but those guys are in the hot desert. I cannot imagine how horribly uncomfortable those conditions must have been. Those men certainly deserve a few beers!

Here are some photos I snagged from a page and a link to that page.

A quick read on a soldier's perspective circa 1968/69 Vietnam titled:

Beer & Soda Available

During the Vietnam War

A Welcome Break from the Hardships

http://www.mrfa.org/Beer.Soda.htm

Speaking from the American side of things - Now days with the wars in the Middle East, alcohol is not permitted to be consumed in the combat theater. If you are a die hard beer fan your time overseas will be filled with "near beer" the big chow halls have them right along side the sugar water!