Red Ball Express - Case Study Example

RED BALL EXPRESS Red Ball Express During the beginning of the 20th century, motor vehicles, transportation, and mechanized equipment were manufactured and available for use by the people. Since then, such mechanized technology has drastically changed the scope of wars and battles. Delving into the era of Alexander the Great, despite tremendous problems, gigantic armed forces were able to cross military ground fields and areas of war. Armed forces were ahead, whereas their large groups of wagons that were driven by animals and carriages lagged a long distance behind the troops. 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 This has now been replaced by the need to ensure supply of energy sources like petroleum, oil and other lubricants, POL, which constitutes the ‘modern-day’ need of the United States army.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 initiation of the Normandy Invasion which took place in the month of June, 1944. There was an urgent need to manage supplies and deliver them in a timely fashion. This strong need at the Normandy Invasion led to the invention of the Red Ball Express to fasten the supply of reserves that were lagging behind to the frontlines where they were needed. This Express service held responsibility to ensure smooth transportation and deliverance of war supplies. As per records, Red Ball’s convoy of almost sixty-seven trucks undertook the path starting from St. Lo all the way to Chartres. As the convoy undertook the journey, its strength increased and after four days, it reached its maximum. By the end of these days six thousand mechanized vehicles were a part of the Red Ball Express (Anders 2011). For successful deliverance, these convoys were restricted to cover distances for continuous hours. Drivers were given a set of instructions with almost no flexibility. Vehicles were allowed to move in the form of groups and it was important that each vehicle was to keep a distance of 60 yards from the other. Other restrictions included speed limitations and no overtaking policy. The drivers were given the permission of using full headlights at night time only. After every fifty minutes, each vehicle enjoyed the liberty to take a short pause of ten minutes. Adhering to these rules, Red Bull Express successfully moved up to 500,000 tons of goods and arms during the period of its working. It can be said that this systematic express service was capable of transporting fuel and supplies to the required regions. The final drive into German territories would not have certainly been possible if the Red Ball Express lacked smooth deliverance. If that would have been the case, concerned task forces would not have been able to complete the communication pathways and this would have resulted in a devastating failure. The Red Bull Express provided for excellent results and it was a success as it resulted in providing for delivery of fuel and resources for distances as long as 400 miles. Gradually, it became evident that the task of effective transportation is not an easy job. The supplies were only ensured if the convoys remained on a constant move and, as a result, crew efficiency was highly affected. Vehicles were being used for constant drives and without proper regulations and check, their efficiency reduced. The pace therefore could not be maintained which caused loss of efficacy of the staff. Since they were mostly tired and stressed out, they began to cross speed limits and at times they would also load excessive weight in their trucks. They started to lack proficiency; due to lack of focus, accidents increased (Anders 2011). It can be said that Red Ball undoubtedly proved the convenience and advantage of safely containing and transporting fuel, but finally, it had to face a problem that was becoming obvious with time. Higher fuel quantity was required for fuel transportation as the distance for the transport of the supplies kept on increasing. Furthermore, the amount of goods that had to reach the front was not equivalent to the supply. The Red Ball Express itself became a burden as the fuel demand of the vehicles reached as high as 300,000 gallons on a daily basis (Anders 2011). The Third Army was disassembled in the year 1973 and it was then again restarted and given duties following an official recognition in the year 1983 to serve “as the senior army headquarters for the newly established U.S. Central Command.” (Pike 2011) In 1990, the Third Army was moved to Saudi Arabia and ever since it has remained responsible for regulating the armed actions in the operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield. The Third Army is famously referred to as Pattons Own since the time of the Second World War and this army is known to open a new chapter in the history of warfare via its new and innovative technologies in war. The army was also involved in the war against Iraq and it succeeded in overcoming the rebellion forces of the country and becoming victorious in the Operation Desert Storm. The Third Army functions towards the delivery of arms to the correct point and it ensures the active participation of the armed forces in coordination with other departments. Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, the activities of the Third Army were modified. The attack on the American soil called for important measures to be taken and the Third Army was recruited to assist in this function. It was sent to work in Kuwait to take part in the Operation Enduring Freedom and at the same time to work towards disassembling the network of terrorists, in particular Al-Qaeda (Pike 2011). On the other hand, the forces of the United States functioning in Iraq are being called out as well. The official announcement regarding this evacuation of the army has provided the mid of December as the expected date for this call out (Peltz et al.). Thomas Spoehr, who works as a Major General, also presented a similar fact that the withdrawal of the forces from Iraq would begin, but a proper schedule was not laid down for this as yet. He put forward the fact that the month of December has been chosen for this withdrawal (Martinez 2011) Operation Iraqi Freedom was a successful operation which paved ways for the implementation of democracy in Iraq and the removal of the regime of Saddam Hussein. This successful mission was not very easy and it is believed that the army had to face very high level logistical issues in the completion of this mission. The tactics and logistics that had to be employed for this mission were only attained with the assistance of historical examples of similar missions (Peltz et al.). The conditions in a war are never predictable and the outcomes are always different from what is always thought. Similar was the case with the Operation Iraqi Freedom, which reached at a difficult point during its course owing to similar issues as were faced during the Second World War. The demand of fuels and goods was high but the supply was not enough to sustain and meet the requirements. The vehicles that were functioning to carry out this task greatly reduced in comparison to the needs and, thus, this resulted in a difficult situation for the frontline forces. The members of the forces that were fighting at the frontline were interviewed and they explained that they began to lose their efficiency of fighting and their spirits started to lower down following the reduction of food deliveries, parts of the vehicles and other equipment. The costs on the national budget also kept on building up owing to the increased demand on the battlefield (Peltz et al.). This shows a striking contrast between this operation and the Red Ball Express. The frontline soldiers started receiving reduced supplies at the time of the Red Ball Express and same was the case at the time of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The cost of both the operations also started increasing gradually and the efficiency of the system started to deteriorate as well. Proper security measures are being taken to ensure the safety of the forces on their withdrawal. Furthermore, proper channels and ways are being looked for to ensure the fact that the path taken by the soldiers is safe to prevent any attacks, as well as bombings. The major route that has been chosen is to initially move the soldiers to Kuwait by air from Baghdad and then transport them safely back to the United States by aircrafts of the armed forces. The forces that are guarding the weapons are being moved by land to Kuwait (Martinez 2011). The working of the Red Ball Express was on a similar scale as is the functioning of the convoys in the Iraqi callback of troops. The large scale movement of troops by land in an organized fashion shows the similarity between the two operations. Works Cited Anders, Steven E. "POL on the Red Ball Express." U.S. Army Quartermaster Foundation, Fort Lee, Virginia. 1989. Web. 27 Dec. 2011. Martinez, L. “‘Vast Majority’ of US Troops Out of Iraq by Mid-December.” ABC News. 3 Nov. 2011. Web. 27 Dec. 2011. Peltz, Eric, John M. Halliday, Marc L. Robbins, and Kenneth J. Girardini. Sustainment of Army Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Battlefield Logistics and Effects on Operations. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center, 2005. Web 27 Dec. 2011. Pike, J. "Army Central Command - ARCENT / Third United States Army."GlobalSecurity.org - Reliable Security Information. 5 July 2011. Web. 27 Dec. 2011. Province, C. M. "The Patton Society Research Library The Third Army in WWII | Metal Letters." Patton Society Homepage. (n.d.) Web. 27 Dec. 2011. Read More