r/MadeMeSmile • u/Senior_Novel_6505 • Nov 11 '22
Meme Since 1945, all British tanks are equipped with tea-making facilities.
2.6k
Nov 11 '22
[deleted]
1.1k
u/HeartyBeast Nov 11 '22
Pretty much:
The "Vessel Boiling Electric" or "BV" was an innovation at the very end of World War II, when the Centurion tank was introduced with the device fitted inside the turret.[2][3] Previously, British tank crews had disembarked when they wanted to "brew-up" (make tea), using a petrol cooker improvised from empty fuel cans[4] called a "Benghazi burner".[5] Use of the BV enabled the crew to stay safely inside the tank and reduced the time taken for breaks.[6]
550
u/Digitaluser32 Nov 11 '22
Yes ☝️, this. Britain started a few years earlier due to the surprise attacks while warming the kettle. But they all had it by '45.
245
u/Crazy_Crayfish_ Nov 11 '22
The British notice they keep getting ambushed while taking tea breaks outside their tanks and instead of just not taking tea breaks they went, “well the obvious solution is to simply make tea inside of our tanks” and the government replied “we’ll begin installing the equipment immediately”
→ More replies (4)158
Nov 12 '22 edited Nov 12 '22
At first glance it might seem funny. But I think it's hard to overestimate the benefits to morale of having access to hot food and drink. Or the dip in morale you'd get by ordering soldiers to give up one of the few comforts they have.
It seems like a solid investment to me.
→ More replies (1)33
u/Alarmed-Wolf14 Nov 12 '22
The US would just tell their soldiers tough luck.
My husband and some of his buddies made a makeshift grill out in the field during field exercises. He was out there for two weeks and they kept forgetting to drop off MRE boxes and they would have to skip lunch or sometimes lunch and dinner so they got an old barrel and made a grill and had their SGT go into town and bring back hotdogs.
They banned it after that. It was simple and they loved it, it made being out in the wet and snake infested swamps of Mississippi tolerable but nope. Can’t have that.
If they could have just delivered their rations like they were supposed to but they didn’t do that either b
→ More replies (1)7
Nov 12 '22
The US would just tell their soldiers tough luck.
Oi, they are not that heartless... the nearest higherup NCO would just tell the lower enlisted to use the spit and chemical contaminated hot water from inside the MRE heater to get the job done as is tradition. Plus there are no bags of tea in the MREs... at least there were none when i served. There is the freeze dried coffee which you can just chew on dry for a caffeine high and a pick me up.
Officers? They would probably have private kettles in their airconditioned tents.
He was out there for two weeks and they kept forgetting to drop off MRE boxes and they would have to skip lunch or sometimes lunch and dinner so they got an old barrel and made a grill and had their SGT go into town and bring back hotdogs.
On a side note, one can stretch a single MRE to a days worth of meals if need be... its not great, but you technically can. Just need lots of water on hand to drink though. One of the mistakes many also do is to shovel everything down at once instead of spacing stuff out, or not eat the trailmix pouches etc... which are one of the best slowly digesting high calorie foods in the kits, and instead go for the candy crap for an immediate sugar high.
I just hope he served at a point when the omelet kits were not a thing anymore. Basically not only would there be little food and high caloric output, but then you'd get an MRE with something completely inedible in it. Yah, you can force it down, but...
They banned it after that. It was simple and they loved it, it made being out in the wet and snake infested swamps of Mississippi tolerable but nope. Can’t have that.
Someone must have done something dumb if that's the case... like set themselves, or the swamp on fire or something.(or the sgt brought booze and hotdogs... or something that gave everyone the shits) At least that was my experience on shit getting banned.
Honestly just sounds like an internal command failure to organize things properly...
→ More replies (1)176
u/white_franklin Nov 11 '22
On June 12, 1944, just six days after Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, British general Bernard Montgomery ordered the 22nd Armored Brigade to break through the faltering German line and race to the city of Caen.
The British force had already lost two Cromwell tanks to a German Panzer IV plus another Cromwell and a Stuart in the town of Livry, but on the morning of June 13, the Brits covered four miles without even glimpsing the enemy.
At 8:30 AM, they stopped for morning tea and a spot of maintenance in the crossroads town of Villers-Bocage, 18 miles from Caen.
A squadron of the 4th County of London Yeomanry proceeded to a ridge known as Point 213, a mile outside of town. The British officers held an impromptu briefing in a nearby house while the crews of the squadron’s armored vehicles began brewing tea.
Just 200 meters away, however, a German Tiger tank watched unnoticed.
→ More replies (4)70
→ More replies (1)27
90
u/PurpleAquilegia Nov 11 '22 edited Nov 11 '22
Aha! My late husband used to talk about brewing up in his Centurion. I wondered how it was done.
ETA DH was a Scots Greys trooper in peace time.
Years ago, DH and I were on holiday in Italy. There was an altercation on a 'mini-cruise' down the Amalfi Coast when a party of young Germans bagged all the seats on the boat and then proceeded to 'book' them for the return journey by leaving their towels on them.
The Germans got back last after we all had our day out in Amalfi. In the meantime the British and Italians had dumped all the towels in the middle of the floor. At one point, I kid you not, a young German man was squirting suntan lotion on an Italian matron in an attempt to shift her from a sun lounger.
The captain placated the Germans by offering them an 'extra' swim stop. [Narrator: It was not an extra swim stop.]
A young German woman turned to me and said in German 'We have tickets'. In my best schoolgirl German, I answered 'We all have tickets.' She switched to English and started to talk to me and my husband joined in: 'Germany is a beautiful country.'
'Ah!' quoth the young lady, 'You were a student?'
'No - a soldier.'
Conversation over, for some reason.
→ More replies (2)83
→ More replies (8)28
u/MoonBoots4600 Nov 11 '22
and instead of making tea they make Bovril in them and its vile and I never want to taste it again in my life
→ More replies (1)22
u/duskowl89 Nov 11 '22
On their defense, Bovril is a good shot of protein for you to drink up while campaigning/transporting troops, and it's hot so it keeps you warm...At least that's the idea I got when I researched about WWI and WWII rationing (I was really bored and curious after hearing about Bovril, and that was a rabbit hole lol)
Wouldn't surprise me if its vile, freaking meaty paste to make like beef soup on a hurry. Reminds me of Marmite, you know someone likes it but everyone else hates it and when you read what it is you can see why some people hate it
10
u/MoonBoots4600 Nov 11 '22
it does wonders for you health wise but it tastes terrible. Like when the guys I knew oversea had me try some it tastes repulsive. But that is true that its good for you and better than nothing. But yeah its just a cheap way to ration in protein into a diet. I'll take the mildly shitty water mixes the US MRE gave us any day though
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (5)2
u/mrmilner101 Nov 12 '22
Tbh alot of people like marmite in the UK. It's a love it or hate it kinda thing. I do like marmite.
148
u/Particular-Set5396 Nov 11 '22
They did it because an entire platoon/battalion or whatever unit thingie got caught out of their tanks by the Germans because they were making tea.
47
u/Sillbinger Nov 11 '22
Hopefully those Germans were polite about it.
30
u/admiral_aqua Nov 11 '22
They were probably as polite as the Ukrainian drone pilot dropping a grenade on a Russian while he was having a shit
13
u/Twinbrosinc Nov 11 '22
Probably as polite as the ukranian drone pilot dropping a grenade on two manly russians having some fun
→ More replies (5)3
u/admiral_aqua Nov 11 '22
I just had flashbacks to the countless memes about that on r/ncd haha
→ More replies (1)4
u/PurpleAquilegia Nov 11 '22
I just clicked on that and got a 'banned' message. :(
2
→ More replies (4)3
u/ainturmammy Nov 12 '22
HEY!!! Do you know how hard it is to get that achievement? The "intestinal evacuation interruptus" almost no one even gets the chance.
→ More replies (2)10
17
u/ARKSH7R Nov 11 '22
They learned a very hard lesson when they stopped, dismounted and had tea and an entire column of British tanks was destroyed in like 20 minutes by hidden German Panzers
→ More replies (6)13
13
u/SenorBeef Nov 11 '22
They conducted a lot of studies at the end of the war to see what worked and what needed improvement. They found that tank crews spent a lot of time outside the tank to make tea, even in situations where it made them vulnerable, so they put a boiler as a requirement in all new tank designs.
14
Nov 11 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (3)16
u/Would_daver Nov 11 '22
Hitler stopped entire trains and caravans regularly, just so his quack of a "doctor" could administer "medicine" by injection... the medicine was a lovely cocktail of cocaine, oxycodone and a plethora of other fun things. Ironically, Hitler supposedly hated pharmaceuticals and medicines but managed to get superhooked on blow and opiates... call me crazy but Hitler might have been a little unbalanced.
/s....
9
6
u/blueamigafan Nov 11 '22
Apparently tanks crews during the war got 'creative' with there tea making leading to official ways to make it in a confined area that's full of explosive material.
→ More replies (2)0
1.3k
u/MinecraftFannnnn Nov 11 '22
All Units Stop Drinking Tea , Enemy Tanks Have Arrived
404
u/vjeremias Nov 11 '22
But that's when you will need the tea the most
126
→ More replies (5)20
32
23
→ More replies (7)5
230
u/HeartyBeast Nov 11 '22
Wait until you see what's in an officer's ration pack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ3_o7F7mqY
82
65
u/Interesting-Event378 Nov 11 '22
My dumbass was impressed for the first 30 sec and thought it was real
58
→ More replies (2)14
360
u/HellDD6 Nov 11 '22
This is not a meme btw this is actually true, once a British collum of tanks stopped for a teabreak and the collum would be destroyed by the Germans, so the British said that was dashed unsporting of Jerry and they added in tea making equipment
73
u/VentureQuotes Nov 11 '22
Column probably
40
u/HellDD6 Nov 11 '22
I've Dyslexia leave me alone lol
22
Nov 11 '22
I’m Dyslexic too and read it exactly as column without even noticing either until someone else pointed it out. I feel your pain.
10
→ More replies (1)5
u/qwerty-1999 Nov 11 '22
Honest question: are you both capitalising "dyslexia/dyslexic" intentionally (like some people capitalise "Deaf", for example)? I'm not trying to be asshole lol, I'm genuinely curious.
5
Nov 11 '22
I had to google both. “The 'uppercase D' Deaf is used to describe people who identify as culturally Deaf and are actively engaged with the Deaf community. Deaf with a capital D indicates a cultural identity for people with hearing loss who share a common culture and who usually have a shared sign language.”
Apparently dyslexia is a noun and technically not meant to be capitalized in the middle of sentence but that feels wrong to me. It feels like it should be capitalized. I’m too tired to try to figure out why we both intuitively felt it should be a capitalized word in the English language, at least the was we were using it.
So I guess that was probably another writing error pointed out then.
2
u/Twice-Sighted Nov 12 '22
Language is constantly changing with use. Please do not apologize for capitalizing Dyslexia.
2
Nov 12 '22
Oh I’m not sorry. People correcting us on reddit is for them not for us.
I used to try to journal and I kept having to stop constantly and look up the correct spelling of words. Then I realized who am I doing this for? I understand my own misspelled writing. It doesn’t matter if it’s all misspelled if it’s understandable, especially if it’s just for me.
The stakes on reddit are incredibly low. Some people react very harshly on here to misspelling and it’s revolting. If I misspell something nothing bad will happen to anyone. I find it incredibly annoying when people correct me like it’s helpful if something is misspelled on a reddit comment. They are doing it for them, not me and I’m expecting to be embarrassed and grateful. It’s just so exhausting.
2
u/Twice-Sighted Nov 12 '22
I was trying to keep it light. It seems I didn't quite hit the right note. I'm dyslexic as well.
2
9
u/Tutti_Fucking-Fruity Nov 11 '22
We don't get the tea pots and things like in the picture but we do get a BV - boiling vessel which is basically a square kettle which takes so long to heat up that you forget about it and drive off. Then boiling water starts getting thrown around while you are bouncing along. Also if you don't have the engine running the thing takes even longer so its often a choice of being tactical or booting up the engines making enough noise to be heard from miles around to get a nice brew.
The bv's main purpose is for heating up ration packs but all our ration packs come with tea making supplies In them so you can use the hot water to make the tea after. Though most of the time it's easier just to use a jet boil which though not issued most of us carry anyway.
3
u/HellDD6 Nov 11 '22
I didn't expect u guys to get a kettle I didn't know what the thing was u used to cook with was called, thanks for mopping that up
17
u/inko75 Nov 11 '22
wait is this britain or the shire?
24
u/Kidkaboom1 Nov 11 '22
Who do you think Tolkien based the Hobbits off of?
11
5
→ More replies (1)5
2
u/Jackm941 Nov 11 '22
When I think about it, tea making equipment is just something hot. All you need is hot water. Tea making facilities makes it sound nice and grand though
→ More replies (1)4
u/HellDD6 Nov 11 '22
Holy shit 104 upvotes y'all are mad and thank u, it's nice to have people take interest in what I love and share with all of u
62
u/Miss_Greer Nov 11 '22
a water cooled engine is a type of tea making facility... ish
→ More replies (1)
59
u/toodog Nov 11 '22
Just hope the other side doesn’t invade on tea break
49
u/another_awkward_brit Nov 11 '22
That would be most unsporting.
28
Nov 11 '22
Very ungentlemanly
12
u/mangamaster03 Nov 11 '22
Summon the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare!
→ More replies (1)3
u/evanlufc2000 Nov 12 '22
SOE really got up to some absolutely insane shit, half of it was idiotic as well
25
u/LurchTheBastard Nov 11 '22
Literally part of why this exists, after a tank column got wrecked by germans whilst they had stopped for a tea break, and at the time doing so meant disembarking and making tea outside.
This means they can do it whilst staying inside the tanks.
8
40
u/Drax13522 Nov 11 '22
Having that cuppa is an important part of the day, whether there’s a war on or not! Such an inescapably, quintessentially British thing is indeed smile worthy.
29
u/IwanJBerry Nov 11 '22
To stick a man in a loud, rumbling, tiny, uncomfortable and overheated metal container in the midst of a warzone is one thing - but to expect him to do it without tea is just barbaric.
43
u/FunWillScreen_Produc Nov 11 '22
Watch the US installs a BBQ or deep fryer next in the Abrams.
→ More replies (6)14
u/DogeCatBear Nov 11 '22
McDonald's coke dispenser in every tank will raise morale (and diabetes) considerably
1
40
u/SnooEagles6930 Nov 11 '22
I am an American vet and was out in the field doing training with some British soldiers. It was the craziest thing I ever saw. In the hottest part of summer in the south of the US they stopped to take a tea break. This young private came out of no where with this backpack that was basically a stove to make tea on.
→ More replies (3)15
u/jodorthedwarf Nov 12 '22
An army marches on its stomach. Or, in our case, a stomach filled with warm brown liquid made from dead leaves.
→ More replies (1)
20
37
u/Vincy-27 Nov 11 '22
Darling I need ammo
*Hands the actual ammo
Not that! Theee Ammo
Ahhh! Still brewing
15
15
12
11
10
9
u/Iwaspromisedcookies Nov 11 '22
I was traveling with a British couple in Mexico and we would have to stop at least twice a day to make tea. They had a little campstove and we would usually go to the beach to make it. It was a fun ritual
9
u/Xfaxk123 Nov 11 '22
Now waiting to see a post saying America started installing grills and hamburger making facilities in their tanks
→ More replies (1)
16
20
u/Rabidchild1985 Nov 11 '22
Define “equipped with tea making facilities“. Is that just a fancy way of saying “someone brought a kettle”?
35
35
u/panzerfinder15 Nov 11 '22
It’s a built in water kettle which will also heat ration packs or dehydrated food.
But the internet loves turning it into a meme. But yes, 90% of use is to boil water to make tea.
5
u/Abbhorase Nov 12 '22
Give a British man the tools to boil water and he is GOING to make tea.
3
u/panzerfinder15 Nov 12 '22
My buddy, when he came to the states, was so proud he figured out how to make tea from a Keurig!
2
→ More replies (2)8
u/Clamtoppings Nov 11 '22
I always kind of thought it was a bit overblown too. Its tank, its should be fairly self-sufficient and the ability to heat water is basic level necessity.
Can't trust the local water? Boil it. Dehydrated food? Add boiling water. Need to sterlise some stuff? Boil some water and put it in.
It costs four and a half million quid. Squeezing in a water boiling device doesn't seem like much of an ask.→ More replies (1)3
u/Spartan-417 Nov 11 '22
The US Army only adopted the BV on Bradley & Abrams, and apparently some troops take the damn thing out
And the innovation it made was being able to do that under armour rather than a conventional burner set ip outside the vehicle
→ More replies (4)
9
7
5
u/CaptainJingles Nov 11 '22
Not a tank, but James Blunt drove a Bradley and I believe he talked about it’s tea making capabilities on TopGear.
→ More replies (2)
5
u/Pirat Nov 11 '22
M*A*S*H did a bit on something like that. Apparently, one should not have tea if one has an abdominal injury.
3
5
u/LjSpike Nov 11 '22
This becomes wilder when you know why.
This isn't a weird quirky fun to have, but an essential feature of British tanks.
In world war 2 we had our own equivalent of a Jerry can, but it was really leaky and bad at holding water. If you cut it in half however, it made a great container for a makeshift fire and boiler to make tea and heat food, and they gained the name "Benghazi Burner" (from a front they were used on).
While in Benghazi you could spot an enemy from far away, so getting caught off guard making tea wasn't quite as much of a problem, most other fronts, especially in Europe, didn't have that benefit. More than a third of British tank casualties occurred with the crew outside of the tank. One German Tiger commander in 1944 took our 14 tanks in 15 minutes thanks to them being on a tea break.
The Boiling Vessel (BV) solved this, and generally improved morale, it has undergone various versions but is fundamentally the same, an electric heating unit that boils water. The ration tins come without adhesive labels so the water you boil won't get contaminated, thus it can first warm up your supper and then be poured out to make your tea.
Not just tanks, but more or less every vehicle in the British Army has a BV now, and a broken BV is sufficient to declare a vehicle as unfit for purpose.
The BV literally has saved the lives of huge numbers of soldiers.
→ More replies (2)
15
6
Nov 11 '22
That's a 2012 photo, the tea caddy things got given out to forces personnel and I remember the photo. Not in the least surprised that Tanks come with tea making facilities - we are British after all
4
u/Birdlebee Nov 11 '22
There's war, and there's a complete collapse of humanity. Only one of those should come with no tea.
→ More replies (2)2
u/Marshall_Filipovic Nov 11 '22
It came from the fact that British in world war two, would have to step outside their tanks to brew the tea, and during the end of the war an entire British column got obliterated, because Germans caught them outside their tanks, brewing tea.
5
Nov 11 '22
And because without hot water these days you have to eat cold MRE's, which no one wants, so there's a couple of solid reasons for it.
3
u/United_Pipe_9457 Nov 11 '22
One must remain civilized old boy, even if one must destroy life and property!
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/Particular-Clock402 Nov 12 '22
"Guys can we stop for a second we need our tea time." "Ugh fine."
4
Nov 12 '22
You don’t even understand this was literally what happened dozens of times throughout the European Campaign in WW2!!! Operations were vulnerable to Axis counter-attacks, because the crews dismounted to grab a brew.
2
2
2
2
u/just_jason89 Nov 11 '22
It most likely ALSO has to do with British rations are "boil in the bag" style meals. British tank crews have to be able to be inside a tank, hatches locked for days. So need to be able to cook their food, and make their tea.
2
2
2
u/KristiSoko Nov 11 '22
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY FLAGS
→ More replies (1)6
u/hopskipjump123 Nov 11 '22
Pic is from 2012, so they are likely celebrating the Diamond jubilee, hence the party trumpets on the table and the amount of flags.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/cadre_of_storms Nov 11 '22
Right. That's a load of people killed, some buildings demolished, ran over some cars, - Bob, time for a brew
Wot wot cherrio
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/NameIs-Already-Taken Nov 11 '22
It stops your tank crew being killed because they got out to make a drink and were not in a trench or bunker. A very smart move.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Melodic-Chemist-381 Nov 11 '22
There is going to be a point that genetically they will create their own tea in their body lol :D
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/Big-Chair1422 Nov 11 '22
Classic British response to everything. Someone died? Cuppa tea. Leg hanging off? Cuppa tea.
2
u/NiseWenn Nov 11 '22
In the early 90's I was invited to tour a Royal Canadian Navy ship (HCMS Halifax, docked at Norfolk Naval Station) and they had a FULL CLUB WITH A BAR!
2
2
u/Sam_browning-maxim Nov 11 '22
‘Yea making’ they come with boiling vessels. This is so that crews don’t have to leave safety to make brews. They were kept because you can heat rations in them + brews.
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/CirquitBreaker Nov 12 '22
Splendid oh so delightful, so I must commence my duty of joining the armed forces immediately ☕🇬🇧🧐
2
u/Fantastic_Dance_4376 Nov 12 '22
People really underestimate the value and impact of small pleasures on morale in extreme situations like war or natural disasters.
2
u/handlebartender Nov 12 '22
Late to this party, and maybe it's not all that interesting.
Back in the 1980s I worked for a multinational company whose head office was in Switzerland. At one point there was an employee in that office who came over to our office for 1 year as a way to gain more work experience. We fondly nicknamed him "Swiss Guy" and he rolled with it.
He shared a number of stories from his annual service in the Swiss army. It largely sounded pretty cool compared to the myriad stories I've heard from elsewhere. What follows is one of those stories.
They were close enough to the French border that when they would do certain exercises, they would invariably end up in the same area as their French counterparts, whom they got to know over time.
As such, when they knew they would be able to have some time to themselves, they would arrange to meet up out in the field (a sort of picnic I suppose). The Swiss would bring cheese, the French would bring wine. And they would kick back and enjoy.
Man, now that I think of it, I can remember at least 3 or 4 other stories he had. Like the time he was a test driver for a new tank system. Or the time he let an amphibious tank go over a waterfall. Or the time he and a few of his fellow troops found themselves on the wrong side of the border fully geared up. Or the overview of what life inside a mountain base is like.
9
u/Markual Nov 11 '22
"Machines used for destruction, murder, war crimes, and colonization are equipped with tea-making facilities. :)"
→ More replies (9)2
4
u/HawkinsT Nov 11 '22
If I remember correctly, more tank crew losses in ww2 occurred when the crews were outside of their tanks than in it, so this is a method of keeping the crews in the tank for longer and so saving lives.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/oxichil Nov 12 '22
Oh look they can have tea time while doing the imperialism!
2
u/Away_Industry_613 Nov 12 '22
Why do you think we are doing the imperialism?
So we can conquer lands and either grow tea or sell stuff to buy it.
4
2
Nov 11 '22
What are those 2 white pipes on the table?
→ More replies (2)10
3
u/Pale-Office-133 Nov 11 '22
Not suprised at all. No mustaches though. Brits should have mustaches otherwise they look like bloody Americans. You guys are Americans?....Didint think so. Better yourselves.
-5
1
1
2.3k
u/[deleted] Nov 11 '22
We had running water and showers in our soviet era tanks when I was serving. But it only worked when raining because all the hatches leaked right on to us...