"The Red Ball Express, 1944" Topic
6 Posts
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| Tango01 | 03 Oct 2014 11:17 p.m. PST |
"After the breakout of Normandy in July 1944, an acute shortage of supplies on both fronts governed all operations. Some 28 divisions were advancing across France and Belgium, each ordinarily requiring 700-750 tons a day. Patton's 3rd Army was soon grinding to a halt from lack of fuel and ordnance. The key to pursuit was a continuous supply of fuel and ordnance, thus leading to the Red Ball Express. The Red Ball Express was conceived in a 36-hour brain-storming session. It lasted only 3 months from August to November, 1944, but without it, the campaign in the European Theater could have dragged on for years. At the peak of its operation, it was running 5,938 vehicles carrying 12,342 tons of supplies to forward depots daily…" Main page
link To be remembered as one of the most important in the Allied victory. Amicalement
Armand |
 Condotta  | 04 Oct 2014 5:48 a.m. PST |
Thanks, Tango, for the inspiration. I have some American lorries and am imagining a game with the objective being to get them from the entry to the exit points on the board against all kinds of obstacles, using a card based and die process to determine speed, tyre malfunctions, mechanical breakdown, mud, driver error, snipers, mines, etc…based upon the actual issues the Red Ball experienced. It would be fast moving game of about an hour, good for a club night or participation game at a show. |
| 15th Hussar | 04 Oct 2014 5:59 a.m. PST |
Well, since it was broached… How did the Lorrie (i.e., truck) get named as such? Manufacturer/company name? The first person a truck ever ran over? Enquiring minds want to know! |
| Tango01 | 04 Oct 2014 10:20 a.m. PST |
Happy to be a litte usefull for you my friend!. (smile)
Good luck with your interesting project! Amicalement
Armand |
| zoneofcontrol | 04 Oct 2014 1:30 p.m. PST |
"How did the Lorrie (i.e., truck) get named as such? Manufacturer/company name?" The vehicle got its name from the famous actor Peter Lorr(i)e. During his free time between motion pictures and also to supplement his income, he began to tinker with motor vehicles. He developed the first commercial and military versions of a medium duty transport vehicle. Later in life he became strongly focused on works of Fantasy/Science Fiction and was instrumental in laying the ground work to what decades later became a mega blockbuster series of films. We know them as Lor(re)d Of The Rings. |
| jowady | 05 Oct 2014 9:41 p.m. PST |
Of course to Americans they are always "trucks" never "lorries". And since the word first appears in the late 1830s that connection to Peter Lorre isn't right either. Lorrie is believed to be related to a Northern English colloquialism "lurry" which meant "to lug". |
| vonMallard | 07 Oct 2014 9:32 a.m. PST |
North country origin. Minutes of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 3rd. December 1834 suggests that the vehicle was called after an inventor named Laurie. A long flat wagon without sides, or with low sides, running on four low wheels…for all you British Rail fans. It would seen the orgin of this word..like so many others… is lost in history and like some (zoneofcontrol) a answer is made up and thrown out for the masses to bemuse themselves… just my nickles worth of dimes |
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