Liberty Roads: The American Logistics in France and Germany, 1944-45

The Red Ball Express Highway is the nickname given to the supply route opened in August 1944 which stretched from the landing beaches to the American armies launched in an incredible pursuit throughout France. For three months, up to 6,000 trucks drove along this route. However, the generals complain in their memoirs about the lack of gasoline, ammunition and even warm clothing and cigarettes. It is this paradox which led to the writing of this book.

This investigation is the first publication to cover in depth the American Logistical effort during the Second World War in Europe: operational doctrines, tactics, techniques, equipment .... It takes us from the hushed offices of Washington to the decks of the Liberty Ships, the tops of the overhead cranes at Cherbourg, the steering wheels of the GMC trucks and the drivers' compartments of the Broadway Limited Locomotives, in search of a Logistical revolution. It reveals that the final stage of the supply chain, that of the Normandy beaches to the fighting men, had not been properly thought out. We discover that, far from what is commonly believed, the US Army was rationed from the outset on D-Day and that its logistical chain was dislocated from August to November 1944 due to an ill-suited doctrine and administrative quarrelling. Finally, it was at the cost of formidable expedient means and remarkable innovations in the field that the US Army had become, in the spring of 1945, the only war machine capable of supplying Long-term millions of soldiers and thousands of tanks deep within the enemy system.