Red Ball Express

[alxone]

figured you guys might enjoy the red ball express [Flower]
http://i.imgur.com/ILWpA38.jpg
At its peak the Red Ball Express operated 5,958 vehicles and carried about 12,500 tons of supplies per day
http://i.imgur.com/h3TYlHK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Duz7BNH.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/YPvu4lv.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py6dwW8vuhU

[Rabid]

Very cool. I never knew about the red ball express.

[RMAC757]

Very Cool

[Bailey Guns]

Another reminder of the great things our guys did over there.

[zteknik]

Great stuff!
Wasn't there a movie about them that came out in the 50's?

[Aloha_Shooter]

Logistics win wars.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Neato...thx Alxone.

[airborneranger]

Logistics win wars.

"Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics"

[BlasterBob]

Great stuff!
Wasn't there a movie about them that came out in the 50's?

Yes but I don't remember the name of that movie. In it the troops running the trucks sang a song and one of the phrases that went like, "LIFT THAT LOAD, ONE FOR HITLER AND ONE FOR THE ROAD..."
[blaster]

[wctriumph]

I remember that there was an episode of Combat that dealt with the Red Ball Express. These guys and the LST won the war.

[SAnd]

The movie was "Red Ball Express" (naturally) made in 1952. I downloaded it off of Youtube but it isn't available there any more. Here is the Internet Movie Database info site on it-
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045072/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Youtube shows "Combat! S05E23 - Nightmare on the Red Ball Run" in four parts-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSBL88jmG54

I have greatly enjoyed David L. Robbins historical fiction books about WWII. He has "Liberation Road: A Novel of World War II and the Red Ball Express"
Here is the amazon listing- http://www.amazon.com/Liberation-Road-Novel-World-Express/dp/055338175X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379194309&sr=8-1&keywords=liberation+road

I read a book by a Army officer that was assigned to a tank unit in WWII. After the war he was assigned to a unit that evaluated how well the logistics were handled. Two things always stick out about what he found. Only 20% of the cigarettes offloaded from the ships made it to their assigned units. In other words 80% were stolen. But he also said that the front line units never formally complained about it. The other thing he said, except for a couple of special combat situations (like the Battle of the Bulge), that 98% of the time the front line units started every day at full strength equipment wise. As a comparison the German army was never at full strength after the invasion of France.

[zteknik]

Thanks SAnd.I have my entertainment for the next few hours :)

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Thanks as always Alex.

[alxone]

Thanks as always Alex. no thank you for enjoying the post



here are a few books i found
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446667684?ie=UTF8&tag=olivedrabcom&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0446667684

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446667684?ie=UTF8&tag=olivedrabcom&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0446667684

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0711031924?ie=UTF8&tag=olivedrabcom&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0711031924


and more pics
http://i.imgur.com/C8hnJ7r.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uxvwDKs.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4NK0g1u.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/8KrDo4t.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/GEU4PQz.jpg