The Road to Victory: The Untold Story of World War Ii's Red Ball Express - Hardcover

Colley, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574881736 ISBN 13: 9781574881738

Publisher: Potomac Books Inc, 2000

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Journalist David P. Colley is an award-winning writer, formerly with the Baltimore Evening Sun. The many publications to which he has contributed include the New York Times, Army, Popular Mechanics, Sport, VFW Magazine, and World War II.

From Publishers Weekly

After the Normandy invasion, the Red Ball Express--a U.S. Army trucking operation that lasted 81 days--transported critical ammunition, rations, gasoline and other supplies to American troops as they pushed on toward Germany. Three-fourths of the Red Ball drivers were African-Americans who faced continual prejudice and hostility from white soldiers. In this stirring chronicle--an important contribution to WWII history--former Baltimore Evening Sun reporter Colley tells the full story of the Red Ball Express for the first time. Drawing from interviews, army documents and oral histories, Colley leaves no doubt that the heroic efforts of the Red Ball drivers, who braved strafing by Luftwaffe planes, German artillery and friendly fire, contributed significantly to the defeat of the Nazis in France--and he shatters the myth that the Germans were the masters of mechanized warfare. (While the German Army was supplied by horse and wagon, the American army's secret weapon in the ground war-- simple, rugged trucks nicknamed "Jimmies"--made it the world's most flexible and mechanized force.) Colley transforms what might have been a dry tale of military logistics into a rousing, perceptive reappraisal of the Allied invasion of northern Europe. Although the Red Ball's exploits--the subject of a 1952 movie starring Sidney Poitier--are legendary, former Platoon Sergeant John Houston (father of singer/actress Whitney Houston) sums it up: "We never got enough credit for what we did.... The Army would never have won without us." Photos, maps. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1574881736
• ISBN 13: 9781574881738
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 247