![]() ![]() ![]() Patton “wanted us to eat, sleep, and drive, but mostly drive,” one trucker recalled.Ī convoy of U.S. ![]() They drove fast and adopted the French phrase “tout de suite” – immediately, right now – as their motto. They steered their loud, rough-driving trucks down pitch-black country roads and through narrow lanes in French towns. This limited the range of the vaunted Blitzkrieg, or lightning attacks, because German tanks and motorized units could not move far ahead of their infantry divisions and supplies.ĭriving day and night, the Red Ball truckers earned a reputation as tireless and fearless troops. The Red Ball Express gave the Allies a strategic advantage over the German infantry divisions, which were overly reliant on rail, wagon trains and horses to move troops and supplies.Ī typical German division during the same period had nearly 10 times as many horses as motor vehicles and ran on oats just as much as oil. That’s a point well known in today’s war in Ukraine: As the Russian invasion stretches into its second year, logistics have been an important factor. ![]() They also demonstrated what military planners have long understood – logistics shape what is possible on the fields of battle. In this October 1944 photograph, Black soldiers are filling up gasoline tanks for the Red Ball Express. ![]()
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