"Speaking of Ronsons" Topic

Ronson slogans came up in another thread. A bit of google-fu revealed a great cache of historical ads: link

"Press it, it's lit. Release it, it's out." was their primary slogan from before and during the war years. They did have quite a few propaganda style ads, such as 1944:

Even carrying military themes into 1949, Without a single miss:

This page is not a definitive catalog of their old ads, but skimming through them, not a sign of a "lights every time" slogan. Although they do have a persistent theme of reliability, so their ada and general reputation are still a plausible enough reason to dub Shermans "Ronsons".

This link (probably to your blog :) shows various ads and a search to find 'lights every time'. Looks like something in the 1920s was the closest.

link

This is an actual quote from Robert Slayton's book "Arms of Destruction" (pp. 175-176):

One German told interviewers, "Our gunners see your tanks (Shermans) coming… and they say to each other, 'Here comes another Ronson.' Why do the Americans do this for us? Bang! and it burns like twenty haystacks. All the people [inside], my God… Those funny little tanks with the little guns and so high and straight we can see them from a long way in our gunsights. Those square sides, and thin, the armor." Finally he asked, "Why does the country [sic] of Detroit send their men out to die in these things!"

The bibliography attributed its source to Gerald Linderman in 'The World Within War' [New York, The Free Press, 1997], pp. 25-26.

So it's the Brits that first called them 'Ronsons'?

A book published in 2004 references a book published in 1997, which references an anonymous German speaking to an anonymous interviewer at an unknown time and place.

Irrefutable proof there.

A book published in 2004 references a book published in 1997, which references an anonymous German speaking to an anonymous interviewer at an unknown time and place.

Irrefutable proof there.

Right, then it must be a lie.

Nice blog link (not mine, I'm Goblinhall).

I thought this was going to be about Sherman tanks.

Right, then it must be a lie.

Myth, actually.

I believe 'Tommy cooker' was another German term for the Sherman.

So was it the Brits who first dubbed Shermans 'Ronsons' (as stated in the blog)?

Still trying to find a reliable citation that anyone called them Ronsons during the war.

I did just find one footnote citation to a modern seconday source book that I don't own.

From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_Sherman

"The British took to calling it the "Ronson"; the Ronson cigarette lighter had the slogan "Lights up the first time, every time!"[82] "

"82. Zaloga, Steve Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II, Stackpole Books, 2008, p. 168"

Does someone here have the Zaloga book to see if he cites any primary source for this?

i know the love for steve zaloga, but the guys and arrogant ass. don't belive everything the guy prints…

Steve Zaloga has done a lot for the hobby (wargaming and modeling). However, now with the benefit of hindsight, he was responsible for some long-held misunderstandings (chief among them the infamous Balkan Cross mistranslation of Balkenkreuz).

Does someone here have the Zaloga book to see if he cites any primary source for this?

I have. He doesn't.

Taking this further, John Buckley in "British Armour in the Normandy Campaign" writes that British crews christened their Shermans 'Ronsons'. He then quotes a tank commander using the term and cites "The Black Bull" by Patrick Delaforce as the source of that quote.

Thankfully I have that book too, so off to page 13 I go. There Delaforce quotes Steele Brownlie who was a Troop Leader with 2nd Fife and Forfarshire Yeomanry. After the war (1964 in fact) Brownlie wrote the history of the Ayrshire Yeomanry, "The Proud Trooper" (which, unfortunately, I don't have) in which it appears he wrote 'You were in a 'Ronson' and if you were hit it was best to bale out p.d.q.'.

So is this Brownlie using a phrase he has picked up after the war, or is he accurately recording the comments of Tankies made during it? It's not at all clear.

Another view was provided by a German vet whose interview I once read. They asked him what he thought was the best tank of the war. He immediately said the Sherman. When asked why, he said that it was the only tank he'd seen during the war, but that he'd seen plenty of them.