Red Ball Express - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages... In comparison to such scenarios of war from the past, the modern way of warfare is quite different in terms of dimension and pace. In today’s time, due to automated and mechanized forces, long distances can be crossed at a velocity that could previously not be perceived by the best war leaders of the old era. With the invention of automated and mechanized armed forces, expedite transportation became possible. However, along with this speed of transportation, a new requirement developed. Inventing new, highly capable fuels in abundant amounts was now required to sufficiently maintain and run these engines of mechanized war equipment. Further comparison of the ancient times of warfare to the modern day situation illustrates that previously the armies had to keep sufficient supplies of goods like barley, hay and oats for the long distances that had to be covered. This has now been replaced by the need to ensure supply of energy sources like petroleum, oil and other lubricants, POL, which constitutes the ‘modern-day’ need of the United States army. The older techniques of warfare started to fade and the army started the usage of vehicles and trucks in warfare since the year 1911. The Red Ball Express was a creation during the period of the Second World War for the management of the supplies during the war. There were many underlying reasons that led to the formation of the Red Ball Express and then to its discontinuation (Anders 2011). In the year 1918, on November 15th, the Third Army was formed and because of its efficient working and success in its operations, it was given the authority of handling the functioning and working of the Red Ball Express. They had the power to control the posting of the units of the Red Ball Express according to their decisions. Following its formation, the Third Army was given a high command with regard to all the army decisions during the periods of wars. The Third Army played an active role in the Second World War; it trained armed forces for the purpose of the war. Its success was indicated by the victory of the army against the Nazis of Germany (Province 2011). The Third Army was inactivated from duties of war and the army was given administrative duties in the year 1947. It was completely abolished in the year 1973. However, an insight of history shows that on 3rd December, 1982, an official function was done at Fort McPherson to officially announce the same status of the Third Army as before. Third U.S. Army was activated again. The army was to be regulated by Lt. Gen. M. Collier Ross. High profile army personnel were present at the occasion (Pike 2011). Keeping in mind the overall aspects that gave birth to mechanized and fast paced wars, it can be said that World War II was the first war which utilized all the technological innovations and modern warfare techniques. Due to exceptionally high consumption of POL, throughout the war the demand remained sky high in most of the countries of the world. TORCH, an operation that initiated in North Africa was a very small scale project but still its requirements of fuel were as high as ten million gallons. “Blitz”, which was basically a 5 gallon container, was manufactured by Allied logistics, and these were brought to use. Not only this, a number of oil tankers, trucks and pipelines that carried oil were utilized to meet the increasing oil demands. These preparations were basically for the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More