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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 first was codenamed the "Red Ball Express". Starting on D plus 3 (three days after D-Day), 100 measurement tons (110 m 3 ) per day were set aside for emergency requests. Such shipments would be expedited.
Red Ball Express is a 1952 American World War II war film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Jeff Chandler and Alex Nicol, featuring early screen appearances by Sidney Poitier and Hugh O'Brian. The film is based on the Red Ball Express convoys that took place after the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.
22 May 1944: 'Omaha' (3 down, clued as "Red Indian on the Missouri"): code name for the D-Day beach to be taken by the US 1st Infantry Division (Omaha Beach). 27 May 1944: 'Overlord' (11 across, clued as "[common]... but some bigwig like this has stolen some of it at times.", code name for the whole D-Day operation: Operation Overlord)
Before D-Day, the British government set aside civilian-operated cold storage facilities in the UK for American needs. When the first commodity-loaded reefer ships arrived from the US carrying perishables earmarked for American troops on the continent, they were unloaded in the UK and transferred to refrigerated coasters for the trip to France.
Lee improvised with the road transport, the Red Ball Express, but logistic support of the armies depended on the repair of the railroad system, and the development of ports. The original plans to use ports in Brittany were abandoned in favor of Marseilles in the south, and Le Havre and Antwerp , which were captured by the British 21st Army Group .
Overlord would constitute the largest amphibious operation in military history. [22] After delays, due to both logistical difficulties and poor weather, the D-Day of Overlord was moved to 6 June 1944. Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery, commander of 21st Army Group, aimed to capture Caen within the first day, and liberate Paris within 90 days. [22]
D-day assault routes into Normandy "Overlord" was the name assigned to the establishment of a large-scale lodgement on the Continent. [56] The first phase, the amphibious invasion and establishment of a secure foothold, was code-named Operation Neptune [49] and is often referred to as "D-Day".