5fish
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The Red Ball Express man by African American Soldiers... it is a fun read young men(mostly Black men) driving fast and having fun to win the war...
www.historynet.com
Snip...
The Red Ball Express was a famed truck convoy system that supplied Allied forces moving quickly through Europe after breaking out from the D-Day beaches in Normandy in 1944.[1] To expedite cargo shipment to the front, trucks emblazoned with red balls followed a similarly marked route that was closed to civilian traffic. The trucks also had priority on regular roads.[citation needed]
Conceived in an urgent 36-hour meeting, the convoy system began operating on August 25, 1944.[2] Staffed primarily with African-American soldiers, the Express at its peak operated 5,958 vehicles that carried about 12,500 tons of supplies a day.[2] It ran for 83 days until November 16, when the port facilities at Antwerp, Belgium, were opened, enough French rail lines were repaired,[3] and portable gasoline pipelines were deployed.
Able-bodied soldiers attached to other units whose duties were not critical were made drivers. Almost 75% of Red Ball drivers were black.
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Use of the term "Red Ball" to describe express cargo service dated at least to the end of the 19th century. Around 1892, the Santa Fe railroad began using it to refer to express shipping for priority freight and perishables.[4] Such trains and the tracks cleared for their use were marked with red balls. The term grew in popularity and was extensively used by the 1920s.
Here is another link...
Snip... birth...
Soon, Patton’s tanks were grinding to a halt, not from enemy action, but because there was no gasoline. On an average day, Patton’s Third Army and Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges’ First Army consumed a total of 800,000 gallons of gas. But there was no logistical system in place to deliver sufficient quantities.
It was in these desperate days of late August 1944 that the Red Ball Express was conceived during a 36-hour brainstorming session among American commanders. Its name came from a railroad phrase–to "red ball" something was to ship it express–and from an earlier Red Ball Express in Britain that rushed supplies to the English ports during the early days of the invasion. The second Red Ball operation lasted barely three months, from August 25 through November 16, 1944, but by the end of those critical months the express line had established itself firmly in the mythology of World War II. More than 6,000 trucks and their trailers transported 412,193 tons of supplies to the advancing American armies from Normandy to the German border.
snip...
"Everybody was stripping gears, but by the time we got back to the company area we could make the trucks go," Dick recalls. The motto of the Red Ball, "tout de suite" (immediately), could have come from a French phrase adopted by the Americans as they rushed to defeat the Germans. "Patton wanted us to eat, sleep and drive, but mostly drive," remembers John O’Leary of the 3628th Truck Company.
I should you read the second link the Red Ball express is really a fun story a bunch of fearless young men(mostly Black men) driving fast and dangerously to win the war for use...
Red Ball Express | Historynet
Facts, information and articles about the Red Ball Express, prominent figures in Black History Red Ball Express summary: During WW II, advances toward the
www.historynet.com
Snip...
The Red Ball Express was a famed truck convoy system that supplied Allied forces moving quickly through Europe after breaking out from the D-Day beaches in Normandy in 1944.[1] To expedite cargo shipment to the front, trucks emblazoned with red balls followed a similarly marked route that was closed to civilian traffic. The trucks also had priority on regular roads.[citation needed]
Conceived in an urgent 36-hour meeting, the convoy system began operating on August 25, 1944.[2] Staffed primarily with African-American soldiers, the Express at its peak operated 5,958 vehicles that carried about 12,500 tons of supplies a day.[2] It ran for 83 days until November 16, when the port facilities at Antwerp, Belgium, were opened, enough French rail lines were repaired,[3] and portable gasoline pipelines were deployed.
Able-bodied soldiers attached to other units whose duties were not critical were made drivers. Almost 75% of Red Ball drivers were black.
Snip...
Use of the term "Red Ball" to describe express cargo service dated at least to the end of the 19th century. Around 1892, the Santa Fe railroad began using it to refer to express shipping for priority freight and perishables.[4] Such trains and the tracks cleared for their use were marked with red balls. The term grew in popularity and was extensively used by the 1920s.
Here is another link...
Snip... birth...
Soon, Patton’s tanks were grinding to a halt, not from enemy action, but because there was no gasoline. On an average day, Patton’s Third Army and Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges’ First Army consumed a total of 800,000 gallons of gas. But there was no logistical system in place to deliver sufficient quantities.
It was in these desperate days of late August 1944 that the Red Ball Express was conceived during a 36-hour brainstorming session among American commanders. Its name came from a railroad phrase–to "red ball" something was to ship it express–and from an earlier Red Ball Express in Britain that rushed supplies to the English ports during the early days of the invasion. The second Red Ball operation lasted barely three months, from August 25 through November 16, 1944, but by the end of those critical months the express line had established itself firmly in the mythology of World War II. More than 6,000 trucks and their trailers transported 412,193 tons of supplies to the advancing American armies from Normandy to the German border.
snip...
"Everybody was stripping gears, but by the time we got back to the company area we could make the trucks go," Dick recalls. The motto of the Red Ball, "tout de suite" (immediately), could have come from a French phrase adopted by the Americans as they rushed to defeat the Germans. "Patton wanted us to eat, sleep and drive, but mostly drive," remembers John O’Leary of the 3628th Truck Company.
I should you read the second link the Red Ball express is really a fun story a bunch of fearless young men(mostly Black men) driving fast and dangerously to win the war for use...