The Tommy cooker was a compact, portable stove, issued to the troops of the British Army ("Tommies") during World War I and World War II.
During World War II, "Tommy cooker" was also a derogatory nickname for the M4 Sherman tank.
One soldier complained that it took two hours to boil half a pint of water.
The two most popular designs used were: The instructions inside are like a newspaper cutting and say the following; Until recently, the British Army still used compact portable hexamine fuel tablet stoves, replacing them with BCB Fire Dragon alcohol gel fuel stoves.
The term is also alleged to have been applied by German tank crews as a derogatory nickname for the Sherman tank whose earlier models acquired a reputation for bursting into flames when hit, due to improper ammunition storage, though no evidence appears to exist beyond anecdote[11]