I am working on a USMC M4A2 from the Tarawa battle. Photos show it with a rack for 8 jerry cans mounted on the rear hull plate. Several questions for the collective knowledge of this group:

1) the jerry can rack blocked the normal mounting location for the idler wrench and sledge hammer. Does anyone know where they were re-located to? Photos or drawings?

2) two different references state the cans were for drinking water rather than fuel. Can anyone confirm? If water, would November 1943 water cans have had screw-on caps or the flip top cap commonly seen on water cans later in the war? Any distinctive markings on the cans to designate "water"?

Thanks for any help.

Photos of the 12 Tarawa M4A2s show an enormous amount of violence inflicted on them. In the handful of pics I looked at, no tools whatsoever are evident. I don't think I'd be too concerned about that -- remember that Tarawa itself is a very small island and the scope of battle isn't on the scale of later Okinawa and Iwo campaigns. Certainly it's a notable conflict but there's limited documentation it seems.

As for what was in the liquid containers, know that NO flip top containers would have carried fuel or oil. Flip top lids were only for jerry cans that held water.

The twist off ones ONLY held fuel or oil. This was a conscious design so that in the dark, no one would mistaken one for the other when opening the container.

When I said Tarawa was "small" I meant in terms of armor engagement. The fearsomeness of the battle is not in dispute!

Thank you Roy. That makes sense. I wasn't sure that the flip top style was in service by 1943. Somehow I had fixed on the idea that they showed up a little later.

I too noticed the lack of vehicle mounted tools on the photos I could find. But it seems like all of those photos were knocked out tanks, and I figure they were stripped of all usable tools by ever-resourceful Marines. I figure the tanks went into combat with a full set of mounted tools, so I'll mount the displaced idler wrench and sledge on the back deck (standard locations for later production M4A2).

Again, thanks.

My understanding is that the Marines stored tools inside their tanks as regular practice, so they are not seen outside very often.

Two sites to check: www.tanksontarawa.com and www.tarawaontheweb.org

A book devoted specifically to C Company on Tarawa is "Tanks in Hell". I don't know how to copy/paste an entire paragraph on an iPad kindle book, sorry, but to paraphrase the book, "a rare modification was to add a steel rack to the hull rear to hold standard 5-gal storage cans". The book goes on to say that "The fact that the cans visible in photos are the narrow-mouthed fuel cans instead of the enamel-lined wide mouth water cans has lead some to argue that these are extra fuel cans. It was not uncommon to use these for water." The company commander is quoted saying "We were more afraid of lacking water than fuel."

Recommend the book, lots of info and photos. The first web site has links to photos of several of the tanks, and at least one color plate.

Mac

Another fine source for information about the tanks on Tarawa check out Tanks in Hell.