In early April 1942, the Chief of Combined Operations, Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, approached the Secretary for Petroleum, Geoffrey Lloyd, and asked if an oil pipeline could be laid across the English Channel.[1] Mountbatten was tasked with planning the Allied invasion of German-occupied Europe, and had concerns about the supply of petroleum products, since it was considered unlikely that a port with oil reception facilities could be quickly secured.[2] The British War Office estimated that 60 per cent or more by weight of the supplies of the expeditionary forces would consist of petrol, oil and lubricants (POL).[3] In the initial stages of the assault, packaged fuel would be supplied in 20-litre (4.4-imperial-gallon) jerricans and 44-imperial-gallon (200-litre) drums. To supply the twenty million jerricans required, an entire American manufacturing plant was shipped to the London area, where it was operated by the Magnatex firm under the supervision of the Ministry of Supply.[1] By 1944, a stockpile of 250,000 long tons (250,000 t) of packaged petrol and diesel fuel had been accumulated in the UK.[4]