WW1 Munitions -- Ever hear of a JJ Can?? JJ Con??

[boomer656]

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum for this question.

I'm reading a document written by a soldier in the AEF (141st Infantry, 36th Division) regarding action near St Etienne, FR on 11 October 1918. In this document he twice mentions what appears to be "JJ Cons" or "JJ Cans" hitting all around them. I'm thinking this is some sort of mortar or artillery fire but that's way out of my area of expertise. I'm hoping somebody here can tell me what it is he was reporting on.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Sunray]

Looks more like 'gg' to me. However, every unit and country had its own nicknames for ordnance. Mind you, the guy's spelling, typical of the lack of education of the time, doesn't help.
It might be a 'Jack Johnson' though. http://www.worldwar1.com/heritage/wordswar.htm
M = Multiple, Sometimes Contradictory.

[boomer656]

Looks more like 'gg' to me. However, every unit and country had its own nicknames for ordnance. Mind you, the guy's spelling, typical of the lack of education of the time, doesn't help.
It might be a 'Jack Johnson' though. http://www.worldwar1.com/heritage/wordswar.htm
M = Multiple, Sometimes Contradictory.

Thanks for the info and link. I first thought it was GG as well, but in a second instance it looked more like a JJ. I should have included that page as well, but here it is.
The "JJ" in the link you sent, as well as "GI Can", does make sense in his context. Possibly a he was using a combination of the two.

[Sunray]

"...Possibly a he was..." Suspect most of it is about the lack of education for most people at the time. Note the spelling of 'machine', improper capitalization, etc. Most people at the time didn't get past about Grade 8, if that far.
141st Infantry was the 1st Texas Inf. You seen this? https://history.army.mil/html/forces...inf/0141in.htm
Could be that 'cons' is his own contraction of the word 'constant' too. Artillery being like that.

[Paul S.]

His "J"s and "G"s are quite similar, and his lower case "A"s appear very similar to his lower case "O"s. At first it appears to be GG cons. Having the second page helps since we can see more of his handwriting to begin to recognise a letter form pattern. With that, the letters are recognisable as "GG cans" which means he is writing about "Jack Johnson" shells, using the word "cans" to mean shells. Sunray suggested above that it might be "Jack Johnsons" and I believe he is right.

[boomer656]

I agree. I appreciate your time to help identify the meaning of this phrase.

Reading the document, you can tell that it is written exactly as he would have spoken - you can almost hear him speaking (and with the info from Sunray, he has a Texas drawl). From the context, it was fairly clear he was talking about some sort of shelling, but to understand the expressions being used makes it even more interesting.

[boomer656]

I don't recall ever hearing of Jack Johnson before this thread. Interestingly, today he is in the news. It's not an appropriate topic for discussion on this forum, but you can do an internet search on 'Jack Johnson Boxer News' to see current developments regarding him.

[Mk VII]

' JJ cons ' - Jack Johnson concentrations?
One often sees German 5.9 shells described as a 'Jack Johnson' or a 'coal box' in contemporary letters and diaries. Few people today would remember the cloud of coal dust produced by the coalman emptying a load into the coal hole.

[boomer656]

' JJ cons ' - Jack Johnson concentrations?
One often sees German 5.9 shells described as a 'Jack Johnson' or a 'coal box' in contemporary letters and diaries. Few people today would remember the cloud of coal dust produced by the coalman emptying a load into the coal hole.

I'm one of those that remembers coal dust when we got a load of coal into our coal 'bin'.