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The Red Ball Express was the name given to the massive convoy
effort which supplied the Allied armies moving through Europe after
D-Day. Its success was a major factor in the rapid defeat of the German
army. Some 28 Divisions were advancing across France and Belgium. Each
division ordinarily required 700-750 tons of supplies per day, a total
daily consumption of about 20,000 tons. To achieve this the Red Ball
Express was conceived. The name came from a US railway term, to Red Ball
was to ship goods express. The operation lasted only three months, from
25 August to 16 November 1944, and was critical in ensuring that the
Allied advance did not grind to a halt as a result of lack of supplies.
At its peak, the Red Ball Express utilized some 6,000 vehicles and
shipped in excess of 12,000 tons of supplies to forward depots daily.
Initially, the Red Ball Express got bogged down amongst other traffic,
but quickly two dedicated routes were designated from the beachhead to
the city of Chartres. From these routes all other
traffic was banned and, to ensure the smooth operation of the Red Ball
Express, strict rules were laid down: trucks were to travel in convoy;
each convoy was to comprise no fewer than five trucks; each truck had a
designated number and position within the convoy; there were lead and
follow-up jeeps to maintain progress; the trucks were to stay 60ft apart
and travel at 35mph. But these rules were more often breached than
observed, with drivers making unauthorized modifications to the engines
of their trucks to increase speed, for example, and drivers hawking
their loads around at the front rather than heading for the main depots.
In his latest book for Ian Allan Publishing, a noted expert on the
history of military transport and vehicles, Pat Ware, examines in detail
the history and operation of the Red Ball Express during these critical
months when, if the supply chain had been broken, there was every
possibility that the powerful German forces defending Normandy could
have driven the Allies back into the sea. Concentrating
primarily on the 6,000 trucks utilized for the service, the book
includes some 220 color and black and white images to supplement the
authors well-informed and detailed narrative. Aimed at the military
historian and military transport enthusiast, Red Ball Express will find a
ready market amongst those eager for a comprehensive and
well-illustrated account of the critical period in the months after
D-Day when the battle for Normandy was on a knife-edge.
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