9. The GMC CCKW Truck
“Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics.” – Gen. Robert H. Barrow, USMC (Commandant of the Marine Corps) noted in 1980.
The logistics of moving supplies and men hundreds of miles across bombed out landscapes was a constant problem for Allied commanders, one vehicle that solved the problem was the General Motors CCKW truck. Capable of hauling two and a half tons, all-wheel-drive truck and able to be modified, these trucks were operated mainly by African-American soldiers along the U.S. Army supply line.
As D-Day approached, the CCKW had already proven its worth in the war, but with the invasion of Europe the truck would take on a legendary status. Air raids had destroyed the railroads across Normandy, the only other form of transportation was by truck, this is when the CCKW came into its own. As the troops pushed further into France, supply lines became stretched, the trucks began to run further and further inland, congestion on the narrow French roads threatened to scupper the Allied plans.
The “Red Ball Express” was developed, using the idea of one-way streets, the Allies created two routes between Cherbourg on the coast and the forward supply base in Chartres 200 miles away. The northern route was for eastbound convoys full of supplies and the southern route for westbound returning traffic. Using this system, 6,000 vehicles transported 12,500 tons of supplies a day, by the time the Red Ball Express ended after three months a million tons of supplies had been transported and 50,000 CCKW truck tires had been worn out.
Due to a large number of CCKW trucks in circulation after the war, the army kept on using the trucks for decades, they performed in the Cold War and the Korean War, some armies were still using them in the 1990s.