Editing Red Ball Express (section)

{{Short description|Allied truck convoy system during WWII}}
{{for|film|Red Ball Express (film)}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2015}}
[[File:RedBallExpress.jpg|thumb|right|[[Military Police Corps (United States)|Military policeman]] and sign posted along the Red Ball route]]

The '''Red Ball Express''' was a famed truck [[convoy]] system that supplied [[World War II allies|Allied]] forces moving quickly through Europe after breaking out from the [[D-Day]] beaches in [[Normandy]] in 1944.<ref name=Historynet>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/red-ball-express|title=Red Ball Express {{!}} HistoryNet|website=www.historynet.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-04-03}}</ref> To expedite cargo shipment to the front, trucks emblazoned with red balls followed a similarly marked route that was closed to civilian traffic. The trucks also had priority on regular roads.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

Conceived in an urgent 36-hour meeting, the convoy system began operating on August 25, 1944.<ref name="ArmyMuseum">{{cite web|url=http://www.transchool.lee.army.mil/museum/transportation%20museum/redballintro.htm|title=The Red Ball Express, 1944|publisher=[[U.S. Army Transportation Museum]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126045735/http://www.transchool.lee.army.mil:80/museum/transportation%20museum/redballintro.htm|archive-date=January 26, 2018|access-date=December 31, 2013}}</ref> Staffed primarily with African-American soldiers, the Express at its peak operated 5,958 vehicles that carried about 12,500 tons of supplies a day.<ref name=ArmyMuseum/> It ran for 83 days until November 16, when the port facilities at [[Antwerp]], [[Belgium]], were opened, enough French rail lines were repaired,<ref name=BitterWoods/> and portable gasoline pipelines were deployed.