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Strange but True; When Afternoon Tea Could Have Been Britain’s Downfall
In June 1944, the British 22nd Armoured Brigade was sent to the city of Caen in France to break through German lines. When they reached the village of Villers-Bocage, some eighteen miles from their destination, the tank crews stopped for a short briefing. Having sighted no enemies for miles, they left their tanks and began to brew tea in their kettles.
Little did they know that five German Tiger tanks, were less than 600 feet away. Led by Michael Wittman, the Germans ploughed down the British row of tanks, effectively destroying all fourteen of them within minutes.
Similar reports accumulated at British command from campaigns in Africa and right across Europe. In 1946, A Survey of Casualties Amongst Armoured Units in Northwest Europe, published by the British Medical Research Council, highlighted that 37% of all armoured regiments’ casualties between March 1947 to the end of the war, could be attributed to crew being outside their tanks.
Realising that no enforcement of orders would prevent a British squaddie from making a brew, central command came up with a solution. Rather than risking their lives making fires to heat water, thus alerting the enemy to their whereabouts, tanks were fitted with their own boiling vessel. The cuboid design allowed for maximum space…