Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "The horrors of British & US Logistics in WW2" video.

  1. BTW, the Americans found that drivers were the WORST of maintenance labor -- since they'd been up for 48-hours straight on a jag of coffee. My father's V-letters show him writing, ever writing, down into babble. When I converted them to English, (spelling issues) he couldn't dope out what he was writing about. That's how frazzled war time driving became. BTW, every 5th GMC 2.5ton truck had a ring mounted .50 cal machine gun -- because the US Army thought that the Luftwaffe would show up. Thanks to the USAAF, they were a no-show -- which is good. After 48-hours of driving, no driver could've hit anything in the sky. During the Red Ball, the routine was to drive 72-hours straight -- basically until you dropped. The US Army kept adding drivers and trucks straight through the project. Monty terminated the Red Ball with his 2,000 GMC truck request. Yes, it was the BRITISH that terminated the Red Ball -- and it was the Red Ball that was supporting 12th Army Group. This is the event that Bradley and Patton are howling about in the film "Patton." Hitler stopped the Western Allies by shooting up London with V-2s. Winnie, not Monty, was the inspiration for Market-Garden, and London was the reason why.
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  2. The British burned out their trucks prior to Market-Garden. That's why Monty had to beg for 2,000 GMC trucks! That was about as pleasant as gargling shattered glass. But, XXX Corps simply had to have reliable trucks for Garden to work.
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  3. One of the worst fiascos for the British -- uniquely -- was their petrol tin. These LEAKED, especially under rotten road conditions. The typical fuel truck was nothing more than a standard truck loaded to the gills with petrol tins. THAT'S why you dared not light up near such a machine. The US Army simply didn't use British tins because they were so leaky. BTW, mechanized armies use so much fuel that 'supply' is dominated by fuel trucks. Normal machines carrying 'Jerry' cans. The name alone tells you which nation the Americans copied.
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  4. TIK -- the US Army did NOT run out of fuel on the way to the West Wall. That's a BRITISH trope. We gave up our transport to the British to make Monty happy. My own father lost his truck to them at that time. His entire truck regiment was 'un-trucked' at a stroke. With no trucks, the US Army's gasoline just built up back at its tank farm in Normandy. PLUTO ended up being TOO LATE to perform its duty. When the Break Out occurred, PLUTO was still delivering a trickle. Yeah, PLUTO was a screw-up. The Mulberries ended up being a fiasco, too. The American one was destroyed by the storm because the Americans constructed their's faster than its designers -- the British. The British Mulberry was not destroyed -- because it had not been completed. The terminus was, naturally, where the storm had its maximum impact -- and it was the terminus of the British Mulberry that was not built. BTW, my father rode the rails to the port. The D-Day move was smooth as silk. The British civilians passed stood speechless witnessing the parade of the US Army going into battle. This transit occurred in the week prior to 6-5-44. When at sea, the convoy sailed in circles, as the landing was delayed 24-hours. When ashore, the US Army ended up discovering, belatedly, the awesome niftiness of the DUKW. It entirely replaced Mulberry and PLUTO. The sands off Omaha were, and remain, so flat that one could easily get away with bottoming Liberty ships -- even Victory ships -- twice a day -- with each swing of the tide. When the sea was all the way out, mere GMC trucks sufficed to off-load the ships. When things got wet, the DUKWs stepped up. This scheme was so efficient that in no time flat, the British and Canadians started to get fully HALF of all their stuff across the American beach-head. This reality was suppressed for years and years. Try and find a photo of it. I've never seen even one. Every official photo omits the stream of British lorries coming down Highway 13 from Omaha. Omaha was used because it was nature's instant port, a trait that every planner, British or American totally missed.
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  5. In North Africa, the BIG screw-up was that the French system was a NARROW GAUGE railway. The US Army totally re-railed it. It was so proud that the shift of American full gauge locomotives from ship to shore became a propaganda release. This re-construction was stopped when the weather turned so muddy that things became impossible. The intention to build out towards the battle front evaporated when it was seen that Ford trucks were entirely viable and could step-up at a stroke. BTW, if you want to see a REAL screw-up -- visit Vietnam. LOOK magazine published a photo essay of the staggering waste in the American build-up. The photo spread was an eye-popper. The US Army had failed to construct any warehousing -- so virtually all supplies were left to sit in the tropical sun and rain. Losses were in orbit. The feeble fencing allowed many a local to establish his own retail establishment.
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