The Chocolate-Eating Tank That Survived Four Direct Hits
The Sherman tank nicknamed "Wot the Hell" β used by the British 9th Royal Tank Regiment during the North African campaign β had a particularly unusual piece of battlefield salvage: a piece of dark chocolate that had somehow fused to the inside of its turret armor during a direct hit by an 88mm shell. The chocolate had melted from the heat of the impact and re-solidified into the metal. The crew, who named the tank "Wot the Hell" for obvious reasons, kept the chocolate embedded in the turret for the rest of the campaign. The tank survived four direct hits and was still operational at the end of the Tunisian campaign. The chocolate was eventually donated to the Bovington Tank Museum by the surviving crew members in 1978, where it remains embedded in the turret to this day.
Bovington Tank Museum, UK