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The road to victory : the untold story of World War II's Red Ball Express / David Colley.
LIBRA D810.T8 C65 2000
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Colley, David.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- World War, 1939-1945--Transportation.
- World War, 1939-1945.
- Transportation.
- World War, 1939-1945--Equipment and supplies.
- Equipment and supplies.
- World War, 1939-1945--African Americans.
- African Americans.
- World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Western Front.
- Physical Description:
- xvii, 247 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Place of Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : Brassey's, 2000.
- Summary:
- This is the first full-length book about the Red Ball Express, a critical, but unheralded part of the tidal wave of Allied arms, men, and machines that overwhelmed the German Army during World War II. This American trucking supply operation went to heroic lengths to keep U.S. units supplied as they raced toward the Rhine. Without the Red Ball Express, the author contends, the war in Europe would have been greatly prolonged and many more American lives lost. The Road to Victory is based largely on interviews with veterans who describe the obstacles they faced not only from the enemy, but occasionally from racist Americans as they struggled to accomplish their mission.
- Contents:
- 1 A Foothold in Normandy 1
- 2 Operation Cobra 13
- 3 Breakout and Pursuit 19
- 4 In Harm's Way 29
- 5 The Ports 37
- 6 The Red Ball Gets Rolling 43
- 7 The Blood of War 57
- 8 Over the Beaches, into the Mud 63
- 9 Strangers in White America 67
- 10 The Odyssey of the 514th 75
- 11 Effective Chaos 87
- 12 Across the Seine 95
- 13 Never Volunteer 101
- 14 Red Ball Trucks Don't Brake 107
- 15 Daily Life on the Red Ball 117
- 16 Temptations and Black Markets 123
- 17 Secret Weapon 133
- 18 The Jimmy 141
- 19 The Ubiquitous Jerrican 151
- 20 Exhausted Jimmies 157
- 21 Trains and Planes 167
- 22 Buzz Bomb Alley 171
- 23 Joining the Infantry 177
- 24 The Final Days 183
- 25 Victory in the Bulge 189
- 26 ABC to XYZ 195
- 27 The Red Ball's Legacy 205.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-238) and index.
- ISBN:
- 1574881736
- OCLC:
- 42475655
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