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To make up for ruining a good story, here's another piece of military trivia. tank, n. 1. A vessel or cistern used for holding liquids. 2. An armored fighting vehicle, armed with a cannon. You might think that definition 1. has nothing to do with definition 2., but you'd be wrong. During World War I, getting potable water to the front trenches was a major problem. Pipes couldn't be laid, because shelling would break the pipes. So every drop of drinking water had to be carried by either men or horses. Water is heavy, a gallon weighs 8 pounds, or if you're metricly inclined, a liter weighs a kilogram, and soldiers needed at least one gallon/4 liters each day for drinking, cooking and (minimal) washing. When the British were developing armored (or armoured) fighting vehicles (AFVs) in 1915, they came up with a cover story that they were working on self-propelled water tanks to bring water to the trenches. Everyone was told to refer to AFVs as "tanks." As it happens, the Germans heard the cover story and had no trouble believing it, because they had the same problem of providing water to the front lines. The cover story was so pervasive that even after AFVs were introduced in combat, they continued to be called "tanks." So when you hear about tanks today, you are hearing the perpetuation of a piece of 90 year old deception.
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