Red Ball Express

History records that the invasion...

which was to liberate Europe

from the German army began in July of 1944.

D day was already behind us.

We'd stormed the beaches

and fought through the hedgerows...

and reached the rubble

of village streets.

For a while we thought

it was gonna be a walkover, but 30 miles inland,

between the towns of Saint-Lo

and Piriere, we ran into it:

a wall of German men and guns

planted there by Der Fuhrer with one order:

Hold or die.

The Germans didn't have

any corner on giving orders. We issued an order of our own:

Break through.

And so, on July 27,

the Allied army swung

all the way from the floor,

and we hit the west wall

with everything we had,

Lightning Joe Collins'

Seventh Corps showing the way.

It took three, long,

never-forgotten days,

but the wall cracked,

and the crack became a hole...

and the hole, a doorway.

Through the door, more armor

poured into France than the Germans knew existed.

General Courtney Hodges'

First Army moved east toward the Seine.

Field Marshal Monty Montgomery's

21st Army group took a cut north heading for Antwerp.

And General George S. Patton's

Third Army...

Well, George, he took

his tanks, his men,

added a dash of

his private brand of courage...

and led them

straight up the center for Paris.

Hey, knock it off,

you jerk!

You feel like makin'

some noise, get down the road and join the war!

I'll give you ten seconds to get out of there!

Yeah?

Well, I'll give you

just ten seconds to knock that racket off...

before I give you

a punch right in the...

- Good morning, sir.

- I hope I didn't break up a crap game, Lieutenant.

No, sir.

Why are you lying doggo in the road?

Are you lost

or afraid or both?

Neither, sir.

We only had one can of gas left. I thought we'd save it.

For what? You can't win a war

against enemy you don't capture or terrain you don't take.

- Get back in that tank

and start moving! - Yes, sir.

Wow.

So we burn up our last can of gas. Then what?

Maybe there's

some gas stations along the road somewheres.

Aw, sure. This is

a regular Route 66.

Free air, free water

and registered rest rooms.

Yeah. They wash

your windshield with an 88-millimeter shell.

Why don't they send up those back-line supply troops?

Those jokers?

If you expect them to keep

up with old Blood-and-Guts,

I'll bet my bottom stripe

we take Berlin with slingshots.

Hey, Charlie,

they got another cartoon in here about General Gordon.

I'd give $20

to see his face when he sees...

Get your money up,

Lieutenant.

I hope it was worth it.

Now get on that telephone and

get the advanced section of the communication zone, Col. Carter.

It's in Le Mans.

Yes, sir. Make the call, Corporal.

Yes, sir.

This is Tippecanoe six.

Give me Tatter forward.

This is a high priority

call. Get that:
a high priority call.

I want Colonel Carter

for Major General Lee Gordon on General Patton's staff.

Yeah, yeah? Who is it?

This is Major General Lee Gordon speaking.

Can you hear me?

Uh, yes, General. Can you hear me?

Doesn't make any difference

whether I can hear you because you're not going to be talking.

Ten days ago, you told me that

supplies were being sent up. Where are they?

Uh, uh, well, you see, sir, uh...

I'm fed up with promises!

I want gasoline, gasoline

and more gasoline.

I want small-caliber ammunition

and rations, and I want them as fast as you can get them to me.

General, your outfit's

been moving four times as fast as anybody thought it would.

We'll catch up to you eventually.

"Eventually"!

Get me those supplies!

Ten-hut.

Here's the situation, men.

At ease. In the 23 days since

the Allied troops broke through the main German line of defense,

General Patton's army

has fought its way to the Seine River.

That's 270 miles

into enemy-held territory.

It's the most important

push in the war,

But General Patton

has outrun his line of communication support.

He's virtually drinking

gasoline, chasing Krauts with 30-caliber bullets.

He's dangling out there

all by himself.

It's our job to

get him off that hook and keep him rolling.

No reflection on Patton's

ability as a field commander,

but military history has proved

that war is an inchworm.

The head has to stop

while the tail catches up. Our supply line...

Right now, Colonel,

General Patton is rewriting military history.

He's already demonstrated

that many military concepts are obsolete,

especially our concept

of supply.

But, General, how do you

supply an army that's moved as fast as his?

There are no forward airfields,

and it'll take 60 days to put those railroads back into shape.

I'll tell you how

we're gonna do it:

with trucks, trucks

and more trucks.

We'll clear our own

private route.

We'll make it off-limit

for everyone, from French civilians to combat units.

We'll set up our own

one-way, private road to Patton and back.

That road'll have to go through

points that Patton's bypassed.

How do trucks get through

enemy pockets?

They fight

their way through.

What's your vehicle

situation, Colonel?

I could have better than

6,000 trucks ready to roll by morning.

All right. Before

we leave Le Mans tonight,

we'll have

a beachhead-to-front Red Ball Express.

One way out

and one way back.

General, we might have

the trucks, but we haven't men enough to put in all of them.

Then get the men.

Every man in the E.T.O...

who isn't shooting

or kicking Krauts out of their holes...

is going to find himself

pushing a truck.

All right, gentlemen.

We'll reassemble here at 1300,

put all the plans

together and get this Red Ball rolling.

Ten-hut!

I'd give a six-hour pass

if I knew what this was all about.

I already did.

I still don't know.

Then stop beatin'

your brains out thinkin'.

You do guess it right; they'll

change the whole thing, even if they have to lose the war.

This is the highest-price

quiz show of all times.

We're in the transportation

corps, aren't we? That means we'll be driving trucks.

Yeah. The kind of work

they don't care who does.

Trucks! Who wants to drive a truck?

Nobody.

And most of all me. Somebody

oughta tell the government what's goin' on over here.

A year and a half we train.

The Fightin' 104th, they call us.

And I know what it means. Only

104 of them are gonna fight.

- The rest of us are gonna

wind up as wheel jockeys. - Why don't you stop beefin'?

Drivin' a truck is

the softest touch in the world.

Ya sit down

all day long.

Ya pick up some stuff here.

Ya put it over here.

Nobody breathin'

down your neck. Ya carry a couple jugs of cognac.

And mademoiselles...

What they won't do for a ride...

and a gallon of gasoline

to take home to Papa.

Can't be done.

Hey, you make it

sound like heaven.

I wouldn't even wanna

drive a truck in heaven.

You know, I don't know

the first thing about one of these gadgets.

It's a cinch. Take you

ten minutes to learn.

Back in the States,

I pushed rigs from one coast to the other.

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