"History records that the invasion... which was to liberate Europe from the German army began in July of 1944." "D day was already behind us." "We'd stormed the beaches and fought through the hedgerows... and reached the rubble of village streets." "For a while we thought it was gonna be a walkover, but 30 miles inland, between the towns of Saint-Lo and Piriere, we ran into it:" "a wall of German men and guns planted there by Der Fuhrer with one order:" "Hold or die." "The Germans didn't have any corner on giving orders." "We issued an order of our own:" "Break through." "And so, on July 27, the Allied army swung all the way from the floor, and we hit the west wall with everything we had," "Lightning Joe Collins' Seventh Corps showing the way." "It took three, long, never-forgotten days, but the wall cracked, and the crack became a hole... and the hole, a doorway." "Through the door, more armor poured into France than the Germans knew existed." "General Courtney Hodges' First Army moved east toward the Seine." "Field Marshal Monty Montgomery's 21st Army group took a cut north heading for Antwerp." "And General George S. Patton's Third Army" "Well, George, he took his tanks, his men, added a dash of his private brand of courage... and led them straight up the center for Paris." "Hey, knock it off, you jerk!" "You feel like makin' some noise, get down the road and join the war!" "I'll give you ten seconds to get out of there!" "Yeah?" "Well, I'll give you just ten seconds to knock that racket off... before I give you a punch right in the" " Good morning, sir." " I hope I didn't break up a crap game, Lieutenant." "No, sir." "Why are you lying doggo in the road?" "Are you lost or afraid or both?" "Neither, sir." "We only had one can of gas left." "I thought we'd save it." "For what?" "You can't win a war against enemy you don't capture or terrain you don't take." " Get back in that tank and start moving!" " Yes, sir." "Wow." "So we burn up our last can of gas." "Then what?" "Maybe there's some gas stations along the road somewheres." "Aw, sure." "This is a regular Route 66." "Free air, free water and registered rest rooms." "Yeah." "They wash your windshield with an 88-millimeter shell." "Why don't they send up those back-line supply troops?" "Those jokers?" "If you expect them to keep up with old Blood-and-Guts," "I'll bet my bottom stripe we take Berlin with slingshots." "Hey, Charlie, they got another cartoon in here about General Gordon." "I'd give $20 to see his face when he sees" "Get your money up, Lieutenant." "I hope it was worth it." "Now get on that telephone and get the advanced section of the communication zone, Col. Carter." "It's in Le Mans." "Yes, sir." "Make the call, Corporal." "Yes, sir." "This is Tippecanoe six." "Give me Tatter forward." "This is a high priority call." "Get that: a high priority call." "I want Colonel Carter for Major General Lee Gordon on General Patton's staff." "Yeah, yeah?" "Who is it?" "This is Major General Lee Gordon speaking." "Can you hear me?" "Uh, yes, General." "Can you hear me?" "Doesn't make any difference whether I can hear you because you're not going to be talking." "Ten days ago, you told me that supplies were being sent up." "Where are they?" "Uh, uh, well, you see, sir, uh- I'm fed up with promises!" "I want gasoline, gasoline and more gasoline." "I want small-caliber ammunition and rations, and I want them as fast as you can get them to me." "General, your outfit's been moving four times as fast as anybody thought it would." "We'll catch up to you eventually." ""Eventually"!" "Get me those supplies!" "Ten-hut." "Here's the situation, men." "At ease." "In the 23 days since the Allied troops broke through the main German line of defense," "General Patton's army has fought its way to the Seine River." "That's 270 miles into enemy-held territory." "It's the most important push in the war," "But General Patton has outrun his line of communication support." "He's virtually drinking gasoline, chasing Krauts with 30-caliber bullets." "He's dangling out there all by himself." "It's our job to get him off that hook and keep him rolling." "No reflection on Patton's ability as a field commander, but military history has proved that war is an inchworm." "The head has to stop while the tail catches up." "Our supply line" "Right now, Colonel, General Patton is rewriting military history." "He's already demonstrated that many military concepts are obsolete, especially our concept of supply." "But, General, how do you supply an army that's moved as fast as his?" "There are no forward airfields, and it'll take 60 days to put those railroads back into shape." "I'll tell you how we're gonna do it:" "with trucks, trucks and more trucks." "We'll clear our own private route." "We'll make it off-limit for everyone, from French civilians to combat units." "We'll set up our own one-way, private road to Patton and back." "That road'll have to go through points that Patton's bypassed." "How do trucks get through enemy pockets?" "They fight their way through." "What's your vehicle situation, Colonel?" "I could have better than 6,000 trucks ready to roll by morning." "All right." "Before we leave Le Mans tonight, we'll have a beachhead-to-front Red Ball Express." "One way out and one way back." "General, we might have the trucks, but we haven't men enough to put in all of them." "Then get the men." "Every man in the E.T.O... who isn't shooting or kicking Krauts out of their holes... is going to find himself pushing a truck." "All right, gentlemen." "We'll reassemble here at 1300, put all the plans together and get this Red Ball rolling." "Ten-hut!" "I'd give a six-hour pass if I knew what this was all about." "I already did." "I still don't know." "Then stop beatin' your brains out thinkin'." "You do guess it right; they'll change the whole thing, even if they have to lose the war." "This is the highest-price quiz show of all times." "We're in the transportation corps, aren't we?" "That means we'll be driving trucks." "Yeah." "The kind of work they don't care who does." "Trucks!" "Who wants to drive a truck?" "Nobody." "And most of all me." "Somebody oughta tell the government what's goin' on over here." "A year and a half we train." "The Fightin' 104th, they call us." "And I know what it means." "Only 104 of them are gonna fight." " The rest of us are gonna wind up as wheel jockeys." " Why don't you stop beefin'?" "Drivin' a truck is the softest touch in the world." "Ya sit down all day long." "Ya pick up some stuff here." "Ya put it over here." "Nobody breathin' down your neck." "Ya carry a couple jugs of cognac." "And mademoiselles- What they won't do for a ride... and a gallon of gasoline to take home to Papa." "Can't be done." "Hey, you make it sound like heaven." "I wouldn't even wanna drive a truck in heaven." "You know, I don't know the first thing about one of these gadgets." "It's a cinch." "Take you ten minutes to learn." "Back in the States, I pushed rigs from one coast to the other." " All kinds of weather:" "rain, snow, desert." " Yeah?" "Yeah." "Let me tell you about the time I was on the Mojave Desert run." "It was 120 in the shade, and I was loaded with popcorn." "All of a sudden, this stuff started to pop." "Boom, boom, boom." "Would you believe it?" "By the time I got to Phoenix, all I had to do was add the butter and the salt." "Yeah." "Very entertaining." "Oh, that was nothin'." "Once I was drivin' in the Rockies, see- Rockies?" " Yeah." " I pushed a few rigs over those hills myself." "Oh?" "Pretty cold, wasn't it?" "Hey, what are you workin' on there, a formula for a secret weapon?" "This?" "This, my friend, is my future fortune." "The first real novel that's gonna come out of this war." "Well, what are you gonna call it?" "How do I know?" "Haven't finished it yet." "What, what, what, why, why, why." "Look, Shakespeare, you write anything about this outfit, leave me out of it, will ya?" "I'm beginnin' to feel like an end man in a minstrel show." "Then why don't you tell a joke?" "Aw, come on." "He was only kiddin'." "Unit, halt!" "Left face." "Rest." "All right, you men, the army's got a bug in its ear." "That's new?" "Don't it always?" "Hurry, hurry, hurry, and then you never go anywhere." "Well, this time the army's gonna make it up to ya." "This time you're really goin' someplace." "Hey, Sarge, don't we have at least a general or somethin' in charge of us?" "There'll be an officer here in a minute, wise guy." "When he gets here, I want you to show him you're in the army." "That means you act like soldiers, not clerks, messengers or ward boys, even though that's what you were a few hours ago." "Detail." "Ten-hut!" "How are you, Red?" "All right, Sergeant, take your post." "At ease, men." "My name's Campbell." "I know you're wondering what this is all about." "The army is setting up the biggest trucking detail in history." "They're gonna call it the Red Ball Express." "That's an old railroad term meaning high priority freight." "We're gonna be part of it." "Our orders are to load up, catch General Patton, unload... and then drive right back and do it all over again." "Load, roll 'em, unload, roll 'em, until we're dizzy." "There isn't anything I can add to that." "These are our vehicles right behind us." "Two men to a truck." "Mount up and follow me when we move out." "Sergeant Kallek?" "Dismiss the company, Sergeant." "Company, dismissed!" "Fall out." "Sergeant Kallek." "Yes, sir." "Put Corporal Green and anybody else you want in the jeep." "I'll drive the lead truck." "I thought you lost your taste for trucks." "You know how the army is." "They sneaked a look at my Form 20 and found out I was a trucker." "They find out from your Form 20 what kind of a trucker you were?" "Okay, Red, if that's the way you want it." "I'll only mention this once." "We have a job ahead of us... that has nothing to do with you or me, so don't let your personal feelings... get in the way of those stripes." "Good morning." "Mind if I ride with a professional?" "Say, not at all." "I'm one of the Smiths." "Call me Taffy; everybody does." "Taffy it is." "My name's Partridge." "This is livin', isn't it?" "Excitement, drama, drivin' the open road." "See France the easy way." "Well, if you go for this kind of ease, give me just lying around back home." "What'd you do in civilian life, Taffy?" "Bop!" "That's what I did." "Sat up on those high traps with Eddie Mulaney's band, just keepin' the beat." "I've heard Mulaney play many times." "Out of St. Louis, wasn't it?" "Out of St. Louis, out of Chicago, out of New Orleans." "We been kicked out of lots of places." "Well, as they say in that other service, I'm glad to have you aboard." "I'm gratified to be ridin' with a man with your drivin' background." "But after the Rockies, this'll probably seem like a soapbox derby." "Yeah." "Uh, say, uh, I wouldn't like this to get around, but how do you start one of these things?" "Oh!" "Now what?" "Step on the starter!" "Where is it?" "Sir, the sergeant said I was to ride in this truck." "Well, hop in." "Move over, Mack." "I'm drivin'." "Oh, sure, Sarge, sure." "My name's Heyman." "I'm Red Kallek." "What do you think of this outfit, Sergeant?" "With an officer like Campbell in charge, not much." " You got somethin' against him?" " Yeah, I got somethin' against him." "He killed my brother." "I guess we should get to know each other a little better." "My name's Andrew Robertson." "My friends call me Robbie." "Nice to know you, Robertson." "I come from Detroit." "Worked on the sports desk of a Negro newspaper there." "I guess that's because I picked up a medal once in a Golden Gloves." " Where you from, Lieutenant?" " Hmm?" "Uh, Colorado." "You work for a trucking company there?" "Yeah." "That's a coincidence." "Sergeant Kallek's a trucker from Colorado." "D'you know that?" "I guess you two knew each other before the service." "Look, Corporal, I appreciate your interest." "If ever I want to go to confession, you'll be the first one I call on." "Sure, Lieutenant." "I get it." "Grab your mess gear!" "All right, we'll take a half-hour for chow while they're loading' the trucks." "Make it snappy, huh?" "Whaddya know, stew." "Stew, stew." "This is new?" "Hey, the guy's a poet and don't know it." "Lift and load" "Lift and load" "When the trucks are loaded, Lieutenant, where are we headed?" "Somewhere off the Seine River, if General Patton's still there." "That Patton." "He's really makin' a war out of this." "We must be a pretty important outfit to be picked to supply the hottest general in the army." "McCord, I have a feeling before we're through, this is gonna be one of the biggest things the army's ever done." "You really think so?" "I could be wrong." "I don't think so, sir." "You know, it's great to be on a winning team for a change." "Back in the high school I went to, we were always getting beat at football." "We won just one game in four years... and then only because their fullback dropped the ball behind the goal line." "One of our boys tripped and fell on it accidentally." "What position did you play?" "I was a cheerleader." "With a team like that, you must have had the softest job in school." "The softest job?" "Did you ever try to get up in front of your student body and scream:" "All right, gang, remember what they did to us last year?" "Are we gonna let 'em get away with it again?" "We are not." "Let's have a big locomotive for the team." "Tell you what." "When the going gets rough, you give us a big locomotive for the team." "Yes, sir." "And one for the fraulein One for the fraulein" "One for the boys All right, fellas." "Sorry to break it up, but gather round, huh?" "Come on." "Let's go, everybody." "Here we go." "Now listen carefully." "Finally got the scoop." "Here's the water." "Here's Cherbourg, where we are." "Saint-Lo, Paris, the Seine River." "Now Cherbourg's gonna be our main supply dump." "Pick up the supplies here and move 'em to a forward supply dump... that'll be designated by the Red Ball every day." "What's our first objective?" "A dump north of Paris, somewhere along the Seine River." "We'll get specific instructions at a forward control point." "Paris is 270 miles from here." "The way those roads are, it'll take us ten days to get there." "We'll make it in a day and a half, driving a maximum speed of 35 miles an hour." "I've seen those roads." "You can't shoot a bullet 35 miles an hour down 'em." "The roads'll be cleared for us." "Incidentally, Sergeant, speaking' of bullets, see that every man's been issued a belt full of ammunition anda rifle." "We gonna shoot rabbits or somethin'?" "Could be." "We better keep our engines hot in case we have to cook 'em." "In addition to rations, we're gonna be carryin' ammunition and gasoline, so I don't have to warn you to be careful." "You have any questions?" "Okay, everybody, in the trucks." "All except you, Sergeant." "Quit buckin' me, will you, Red?" "I wanna make an outfit out of these men." "With these goldbricks, troublemakers and misfits?" "Guys other outfits wanted to get rid of?" "We're gonna make a good outfit out of 'em." "The large part of it's gonna be your job." "Don't worry." "When the goin' gets rough, you won't see me jumpin' out of a truck and runnin'." "You better get in your vehicle." "Oh, that Partridge." "If his truck lasts long enough, he may learn how to drive." "Get that vehicle off the road." "I'll check the damage." "All right, you deadheads, move this hunk of junk off the road before it starts growing' roots." "Aw, go oil your shoes." "They squeak." "It's dolls." "Real American dolls!" " How can you tell in these outfits?" " I can tell all right." " I guess I'm just lucky." " Well, wonderful." "Now that you've established our gender," "I don't suppose you'd mind giving us a hand." "Take two." "I wish I was an octopus." "I'll bet he is in the back seat of a car." "What's this Red Cross business?" "Don't tell me there's a disaster up here." "We're Red Cross workers, Sergeant." "This is our clubmobile." "We're supposed to ride this road, serve coffee and doughnuts to the Red Ball Express drivers." " We haven't seen any yet." " Well, ya have now, sweetheart." "I'm one of these heroes you've been waitin' for." "Break out the grub." "Okay." "Comin' up." "Hey, you guys!" "Off your duffs!" "Chow!" "Stay where you are!" "The situation's taken kind of a twist." "The dames are here to entertain the enlisted men." "Coffee, tea and doughnuts will be ready in a minute." "Tell the men they don't have to line up." "We'll bring it down to them." "I know this is gonna sound stuffy, but there are some men up near Paris... who need gasoline and ammunition much more than we need coffee, tea or doughnuts." "So will you please move?" "While I'm changing the tire, they can be passing out the refreshments." "You're not gonna change anything." "Get in your truck along with the rest of the men." "Take it easy, Sergeant." "You wouldn't look good with a court-martial." "I'll do my own fighting." "I'll bet you could lick him, too, lady." "Everybody, in the trucks." "Prepare to move out." "This boy's the soul of generosity." "In order to have a soul, I hear you gotta be human." "Sergeant Kallek?" "We'll take ten here." "Have the men check their loads, tires, gas and water." "Anything else, sir?" "Yeah." "Yeah, put out a four-man security patrol and check the road ahead." "Security patrol?" "Now look, Lieutenant, this isn't combat we're in." "This is behind-the-lines communication zone work." "I don't wanna tell you your job- I'd rather you wouldn't." "Just put out the patrol." "All right, you men." "Everybody up here!" "You, too, Higgins!" "On the double!" "Come on." "Let's relax." "Relax?" "Are you kiddin'?" "Security patrol." "I take it, Sergeant, this is where we sweat out the rest of this dangerous mission." "You take it right." "Whoever give the lieutenant the idea for this security patrol, Sarge?" "I think he read a book on Napoleon once, so now he wants to capture Europe single-handed." "If there's a Kraut within 50 miles of this place, I bet he's laughin' himself to death." "Say, how do you laugh in German?" "Grab your guns and take cover away from these trucks!" "Wonder where the lieutenant's goin'." "Probably back to Cherbourg to get his transfer." "Here, Red." "Let's take a look." "If those Krauts come around that bend, they'll blow this convoy to bits." "Let's go." "I'll cover you, Lieutenant." "Don't worry about us." "Just don't fire unless they attack the convoy." "I'm gonna draw their fire, Red." "You pinpoint 'em." "They're over there in that cluster of trees, but they're low." "As long as we stay behind the lip of the road, we're all right." "Yeah, but we could stay here all night." "I'm gonna try to go around and get behind 'em." "You get as close to the lip as possible." "When I yell, we both go." "All right, Red!" "Red!" " Thanks." " Thanks for what?" "I was hoping they'd kill ya." "You might as well realize what happened just now can happen anytime." "This isn't what a lot of you guys have been thinkin'- a bus line or a gravy train." "There's hundreds of Germans been bypassed, and lot of 'em" "Hold that fire!" "Think I'll buy you a slingshot." "You the officer in charge of this outfit?" "Yes, sir." "Lt. Campbell." "Don't your men even recognize their own army?" "Yes, sir, but" "You might have killed us." "I had to drive 50 miles back from the front to find a supply column." "To have it fire at me is a little more than I can take." "We had a run-in with the Krauts, sir." "We're a little trigger-happy." "I see." "Get your men in the trucks." "I'll show you where to take the stuff." "Major, these men need a break." "They've been driving 30 hours." "A break?" "Nobody's getting any breaks up where I came from." "We need this ammo and gas, and we need it bad." "Yes, sir." "Unless our speedometer's broke, we've done 275 miles in the last 36 hours." "Yeah." "Hey, that's just what the lieutenant said we'd do." "This is where we drop it." "This area's been cleared for mines." "Where's the Seine River?" "The other side of those hills." "Soon as Patton gets another bridge built, his boys'll pick this stuff up." "Hey, Major, which way is Paris?" "Ten miles in that direction." "Uh-huh." "It's not gonna do you any good." "The Germans still hold it." "Germans?" "Ten miles away?" "You nervous because the Krauts are ten miles away?" "That's a little close, buddy." "Well, don't spread this around, but they're only two miles in that direction." "Hey, Major." "Where are the unloading crews?" "Sergeant, this is not a reception center." "This is war." "Up here, we do our own unloading." "So let's get this stuff on the ground." "Let's move, Sergeant." "All right, you guys." "The next hour will be devoted to physical education." "Next he'll want us to pour the gas in their tanks, load their guns and pull their triggers for them." "I guess this is the life of a soldier." "Soldiers?" "We're nothin' but bus drivers and travelling gas station attendants." "Hey, Taffy, you know that book I'm doin' on my war experiences?" "I'm afraid that's gettin' a little depressing." "If you ask me, you've lost readers by the hundreds already." "There's no point in you going back empty, Lieutenant." "Give these Krauts a ride... back to the P.W. enclosure at Cherbourg." "We don't have anyplace to keep prisoners up here." "We'll take good care of 'em." "Halten Sie!" "All right, Red Ball, we got passengers." "Load 'em up, Sergeant." "There's nothin' that guy won't have us do to make him look good." "You know by the time that we reach Cherbourg, we'll have driven 550 miles... in 72 hours... without sleep." "That's a miracle, Wilson." "Y'know," "I'll have the... first... book" "You all right?" "Fine, fine." "How 'bout you?" "Think so." "I just fell asleep." "You two go somewhere to relax and settle your nerves." "We'll take care of your truck." "Sorry, Wilson." "As of now, I'm on detached service." "Hey, wait a minute." "I'm not selling anything." "I just want" "Lachez-moi." "Je ne suis pas sur que vous n'etes pas un bon conducteur." "Ce n'est pas a vous que je souriais." "Allez-vous-en!" "Well, I see..." "I'm gonna have a little trouble here." "Say, do you know the semaphore code?" "That's, uh, hello." "You understand?" "Au revoir." "Au revoir?" "That's "good-bye"!" "Hey!" "Hey, what's your name?" "You." "Uh, name." "Nom." "Marie?" "Claudette?" "Cherie?" "Hey!" "Hey, wait a minute." "All I wanna know is your name." "Antoinette DuBois." "Ronald Partridge." "Me, Ronald." "Ronald?" "Whew." "This is like Tarzan and the apes." "Tarzan?" "Yeah!" "Tarzan, Jane." "No." "Antoinette." "Hey, wait." "I can't run and talk at the same time." "Say something to me, even in French." "S'il vous plait." "Shove off." "Hey, wait a minute." "That was English." "You don't speak English." "Not only do I speak English;" "I speak English without an accent." "That's remarkable." "Say, where'd you get that "shoove off" stuff?" "You have heard, perhaps, of the Eighth Air Force?" "Oh." "They were here?" "Mm-hmm." "Well, I guess I will shove off." "I heard that American soldiers fight for what they want." "Honey, if those big-winged birds came down out of the sky first, with $280 a month plus flight pay and that line they teach 'em at basic training," "there's nothing left around here worth scrounging for." "Wait a minute, Ronald." "You remembered." "Don't worry about the air corps." "We just helped send some of them back, through the underground." "Oh, well." "Uh, uh, friend!" "Americano!" "Uh, uh, amigo!" "Yeah, cheri." "Antoinette!" "Say, cigarette?" "Si vous saviez seulement, qu'il n'y a pas de cartouches dans le fusil." "I'm with her." "Americain?" "Oui." "Oh, merci!" "Monsieur, entrez." "Je veux vous offrir I'hospitalite... de notre maison, s'il vous plait." "Entrez, monsieur." "Entrez." "Je suis tres content d'avoir un Americain a la maison." "Louise!" "Oui?" "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" "Un Americain." "Ma femme." "Un Americain." "Hi, uh, uh" "Oh, bonjour." "How do you do?" "Et ici ce sont mes deux enfants." "J'en ai une autre toute petite comme ca." "Marie?" "Oh, la voila." "Oh, cute!" "Hi!" "Elle est gentille, mais c'est une petite gamine celle-la." "Non, non pas sur la table hein." "Donnez-la moi." "Eh, bien, asseyez-vous." "Oh." "Asseyez-vous." "Mettez-vous la a votre aise, monsieur." "Faites comme si vous etiez chez vous." "C'est Americain, n'est-ce pas?" "Eugene!" "Tu n'as pas honte?" "J'allais seulement le sentir." "Je te connais." "Oh!" "Say, this is great!" "C'est le meilleur vin de la maison." "Uh" " No, go ahead." "Non, non, non." "Go ahead." "Non" " Oh, merci, merci." "Marie!" "Say, come on." "I'll get you some food." "Oh, non, non!" "Je vous en prie, monsieur, prenez cette soupe." "Prenez cette soupe." "Elle est tres, tres bonne." "Thanks very much, but I'll get you some food." "Mais non!" "Ecoutez!" "I'll be back." "Oh, bon, bon." "Au revoir, monsieur." "Let's take off." "Wait a minute." "I gotta find my buddy" "If he isn't here, that's his tough luck." "Take off!" "Wait a minute!" "Hey!" "Wait for me!" "Whoo, I'm in a lot of trouble." "Let me borrow your bicycle." "I'll come back with plenty of food." "You wait for me." "I will wait, Tarzan." "Oh, ho, ho." "All right, you guys, grab your socks." "We gotta be loaded and rollin' in 20 minutes." "We gotta be outta here by 0500." "Aw, man, if this is what they call a soft touch, I'll go back to combat duty any day." "Now what would you wanna go back to combat duty for?" "Personally, I think that this is a pretty- Okay, okay." "Knock it off." "Okay, fellas, up and at 'em." "Brother." "And load" "One for Hitler" "And one for the road" "Lift and load" "What are they tryin' to prove?" "These men need 40 hours' sleep, not four." "Patton took the supplies we brought him yesterday, moved up 25 more miles." "Guess he needs supplies more than we need sleep." "Are we the only company in this Red Ball?" "What's the matter with the rest of 'em?" "They were dropping stuff at their forward dump ten minutes after we left." "The line of trucks between here and the front is almost continuous." "Tomorrow there'll be a truck every 50 yards of that 250-mile road." "A load of supplies will be dropping behind Patton every minute, day and night." "What'd they do, give you a speech to learn?" "If you spent half as much time workin' as you do griping', we'd make an outfit out of these men." "Now get to work!" "One for Hitler" "And one for the road" "Lift and load" "Lift and load" " Good morning, sir." "Where do we sleep?" " Where've you been?" "Oh, that." "Sir, if I live to be 100 years old," "I hope I never get into a hassle like the one I just got out of." "Due to a failure of the steering mechanism, our vehicle sustained superficial damages yesterday." "In an effort to follow your example as a thorough and cautious soldier," "I felt it my duty to put out a one-man security patrol... while the able mechanics were tending to the needs of the vehicle." "During the course of my investigation of the surrounding terrain," "I flushed out a very suspicious party." "She was" " He was" "I" "It's a very long story, Lieutenant." "Okay." "But I oughta make you go through the whole thing just for punishment." " After this, see your French girls on your own time." " Yes, sir." "Yes, sir." "My own time?" "My own time." "Yeah, I had a lot of that- at least two whole seconds a day." "We climbed into those trucks and didn't get out of 'em for the next three weeks." "And I was the guy who once said drivin' was a cinch, just a matter of pickin' stuff up here and puttin' it down there." "Well, my vast driving experience- ahem- had left out something quite important:" "little things like your hands swelling up into two big blisters... and your feet gettin' slow-baked on the floorboards... and more aches and pains than were ever squeezed into six feet of human body." "Cobblestones, dust, blackout lights and hairpin turns weren't enough, it seems." "Somebody had to throw in eight days of rain, followed by 65 miles of freshly churned mud." "The road was not only long;" "it now became deep, and we fought a war within a war- with time and distance." "This mud was strictly G.I. issue, not to be confused with the ordinary variety." "This stuff was composed of two parts glue and one part perversity." "Some of the Red Ballers claimed that the army had seasoned it with meanness- meanness squeezed from the first sergeant's heart." "But as bad as the mud was, there was always somethin' tougher ahead." "Accidents." "Sure, we had 'em, but their wheels would hardly stop turnin'... before a repair crew hauled 'em back on the road and gave 'em a little mechanical mothering'... and sent 'em back to the job." "For any of us who got cold, there was an occasional bonfire." "We didn't stop for a rally." "It was our gas and our friends goin' up." "When we hit the towns again, or what was left of them, Taffy kept askin' me:" ""Where those mademoiselles that were supposed to be waitin' to throw their arms around us?"" "I was too tired to even think about mademoiselles." "Friend, that's about as tired as I ever get." "Then just when you thought you couldn't drive another mile, you turned a curve, and the army handed you one of its many surprises." "Well, what is this, Sergeant?" "It's a relief camp for you Red Ball drivers." "Relief camp?" "Now all we gotta do is get a medal every time we drive ten miles- just like the air corps." "Have your men get the gear off the trucks." "What for?" "While you rest, somebody else drives your trucks." "When you get up, you drive somebody else's." "Really keeps those supplies movin'." "That's pretty good." "Sergeant, will you have the men take their stuff off the trucks?" "All right, men, take your personal stuff off the trucks!" "9415!" "Outside and mount up!" "Take it easy, baby!" "Come and get it!" "Come and get it!" "Oh, boy, hot coffee." "Here ya are, boys, all you can eat and drink." "Hey, hey." "Can we look too?" "Huh?" "Sure, long as you don't touch." "Boy, this is just like home!" "What are you two dames doin' tomorrow night?" "Same thing you're gonna be doing, Sergeant: drivin'." "What a romantic item for my book!" "Two dames chase me halfway across France and back." "Hold it for rewrites." "Before we're through, we'll chase you all the way across France and back." "What happened to that lieutenant who doesn't think women belong up here?" "Oh, Campbell?" "Who cares about him?" "Yeah, forget about him." "How about giving me a couple of those doughnuts." "Black boy, you give orders to nobody." "You take 'em." "I'm not taking any from you." "All right, break it up." "Let me through." "Break it up!" "All right, all right." "Now get out of here, both of you!" "He was the one- I said get out of here." "You tryin' to start a riot?" "Lieutenant, what happened was not that man's fault." "Lady, you run your clubmobile." "I'll run my company." "Now beat it." "Get into the tents." "And, everybody, break it up!" "All right!" "Go on!" "Break it up!" "Lieutenant Campbell, sir." "Robertson?" "Come on in." "Corporal Robertson reporting, sir, with a request." "Why all the formality?" "It's a formal request, sir." "Okay, relax and tell me what you want." "I would like to request a transfer to another outfit." "Why?" "I'd rather keep my reasons to myself, sir." "'Cause of what just happened?" "That might be a part of it." "'Cause I had to bark at you?" "Well, that's my job whenever you or anyone else gets out of line." "Would you rather have thrown a few more punches?" "Punches I can handle, sir." "Look, Robertson," "I'm not educated to all the subtleties of race relationship, but it was never my intention... to treat you any differently from anyone else in this company." "To the best of my knowledge, I haven't." "Transfer?" "No." "There aren't any to be had." "I don't think any of us wanted to be in this outfit." "That didn't make a bit of difference to the army." "It makes even less difference that any of us wants to get out." "Is that all, sir?" "Yeah." "Okay, turn out." "Ah!" "Thank you, my friend." "Oh, hi, Robbie." "I just asked for a transfer." "Why do you want to do a thing like that?" "Because I don't like the way I'm being treated, especially by him." "Campbell?" "What can I do about it?" "Nothin'!" "He outranks us the way we've been outranked all our lives." "Ever think you could be wrong?" "Wrong?" "Readin' things into Campbell's mind that aren't there." "Look, you don't ride with him all day." "You don't know." "Robbie, I've been all over the world, seen all kinds of people." "This is the greatest bunch of fellas I've ever worked with, even if half of them are white." "All I ever heard 'em do is argue and complain, feel sorry for themselves, try to take their misery out on somebody else." "Arguin' and complainin' isn't bad." "That shows they've got spirit." "All they've gotta do is get that spirit moving' in the same direction." "When they do, you're gonna see an outfit grow right up in front of you- one you'll be proud of." "Proud?" "With him commanding." "There's nothing wrong with that boy." "The day'll come, Robbie, when you're gonna like that boy." "This is no easy job." "He's got a lot on his mind, and the best thing we can do is to try to help him work it out." "Hold it!" "Hold it!" "How long ago did this happen?" "About a half an hour ago, sir." "Why hasn't the road been cleared?" "We don't have equipment, sir." "Our convoy will go around it." "We'll leave our wrecker here to clear the road." "I wouldn't advise that, sir." "This area is pretty heavily mined." "Why don't we send someone back to the next patrol point for an engineer crew?" "We'd be here all afternoon." "Red Ball would be piled up from here to Saint-Lo." "No, we can't wait." "I'll take the first truck through myself." "McCord, you get back in your vehicle." "Yes, sir." "I'll circle the craters, sweep the ground with a machine gun." "If there are any mines, the bullets should explode them." "All we need's a path ten feet wide." "Sergeant, will you get the men together?" "Yes, sir." "All right, you men, assemble up here!" "On the double!" "Stay on the road!" "Keep close to the trucks!" "Here's the situation." "This area is undoubtedly heavily mined." "We can't wait" "Stop that truck!" "I'm takin' it through, Lieutenant." "Here's a big locomotive for the team!" "Okay, you heroes!" "This way to the front!" "Take your helmets off." "What's this convoy stopped for?" "Holding services for one of our men, Captain." "The chaplain'll take care of that, Lieutenant." "Hop in your trucks and get moving." "Take your helmet off, sir?" "Do you move or do I put you under arrest?" "Court-martial the whole outfit, if you'd like." "Dear God, this is Private Davey McCord." "A good man." "He always said he wanted to win something someday." "He never did." "Maybe You could fix up kind of a prize for him." "He earned it." "Amen." "Something you wanted, Captain?" "No." "Just try and make up for lost time." "Lieutenant, have your men put this stuff back in their trucks." "Why?" "There's a tank outfit bogged down on the road 15 miles up." "You'll have to move up alongside and unload." "All right, hold it!" "Put everything back in the trucks and prepare to move out." "Oh, no." "Oh!" "Hey, do you suppose we're gonna drop this stuff behind the German lines... so it'll be waitin' for Patton when he gets there?" "I wouldn't be a bit surprised." "My family used to say, "That boy Ronald." "He'll go far."" "At the time, I didn't realize how far they meant." "Good morning, Lieutenant." "Morning." "How's it goin'?" "It's gonna go a lot better since you're here, thanks." "Good." "Red, get 'em unloaded." "All right, let's work on this truck first!" "With your permission, I'd like to have some of your guys help us." "Sure." "Max, get the boys and give 'em a hand, will ya?" "Okay, you guys, on the double!" "How many tanks have you got here?" "We have ten, but there's more coming up." "Put 'em in the trucks." "Take 'em out of the trucks." "Put 'em in the trucks." "Take 'em out of the trucks." "That's a good rhythm." "Hey, what happened?" "You boys take the wrong road?" "You're up here where the men are doing the fighting." "We came up to check on a rumor that you fellas were sellin' this stuff to the Krauts." "Yeah, we are." "But you oughta see the price they're payin' for it." "Oh, you jokers have got a soft touch." "You know, you sit on your butts all day driving around the country, but when you get here, we have to do your work for ya." "Lift and load" "Lift and load" "One for Hitler" "And one for the road" "Lift and load" "Lift and load" "They, um, look like they work pretty well together." "One for Goering Yeah, good outfit." " One for Goering" " Are you guys on a gravy train?" "Is this an army outfit or a minstrel show?" "You think this is a gravy train?" "You drive my truck, and I'll drive your tank." "Are you kiddin', buddy?" "You think I'd leave one of Patton's tank companies... for a lousy 4-F goldbrick outfit like this?" "Sergeant, if I were you, I wouldn't talk about the Red Ball Express that way." "Oh, the Red Ball Express." "We call it the Foul Ball Express." "Oh!" "Hey, watch it!" "No!" "No, wait a minute, Lieutenant." "What do you mean?" "Your boys are liable to get hurt." "My tankers are tough." "Come on." "No, I learned not to interfere in other people's fights." "See this scar?" "I got that trying to be a peacemaker." "I don't see any scar." "It's there." "Come on." "I'll tell ya about it." "Are you enjoying yourselves, gentlemen?" "Yes, sir." "Ten-hut!" "No, sir." "Ten-hut!" "Ten-hut!" " Fall in!" " Ten-hut!" "Fall in!" "I've always said men enjoy a fight and don't believe anybody who says I'm a liar, but the battle is up there ahead of you!" "Save your energy for the fanatics who got us into this war." "Don't use them... in petty arguments with the men who supply the lifeblood to your outfit." "If it weren't for the Red Ball Express pushing through supplies, we might never be able to keep attacking." "And every day we can attack means we're that much nearer the end of the war." "Now help those Red Ball drivers load whatever you need into your tanks." "And whenever they hand you a gallon of gas or a bullet, be gra because it might be the one that saves your life and country." "And when you're through, tankers, meet me two miles down the road." "We'll see how eager you are to fight there!" "All right, Sergeant, get the men back to work." "Yes, sir." "Back to the trucks." "Hey, Sarge, how'd you like the minstrel show, eh?" "Good outfit." "Well, Taffy, we're almost there." "We've passed that French girl every three days for the past five weeks without stopping." "If I know anything about women- and I do- she just won't wait any longer." "Oh, she'll be there, and lovely as ever." "Hey, there she is!" "Hi, baby!" "Whoo-ee!" "Man, what have you got?" "Her bicycle." "Now don't you be in a hurry, Taffy!" "Don't worry about me." "Don't you be." "Hey, come on!" "The Army's got some inquisitive mechanics." "Okay, what's wrong with it now?" "I don't know, Max." "I just happened to close my eyes, and all of a sudden, she stops." "Just like that!" "Poor little old thing." "You think she could just be tired?" "Ah!" "Every time you didn't stop, I worry." "I think maybe you're dead." "Would it make any difference?" "Most certainly would." "You had my bicycle." "Well, you can put in your diary... that I would've come back even if I were dead and didn't have your bicycle." "I like you." "Oh, hey, I almost forgot." "Here's the food I promised ya." "I guess you're a little hungry by now." "Oh, no." "Three weeks ago, I stuffed myself with a cracker or two." "I'm sorry I joked about it." "Next time I'll be around a lot sooner." "Well, you can put in your diary I would have waited for you, even if I'd just finished a banquet and I didn't need my bicycle." "Who you trying to kid?" "There's nothin' wrong with this truck." "Step on the starter." "Would you mind turning on a switch, please?" "The switch?" "Oh." "Yeah." "Then throw it in low and keep on moving." "Come on!" "Come on!" "What about my buddy?" "I can't leave him!" "Most things we do in this army are things we can't do." "Now get moving!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Oh, no!" "Well, they did it again." "Honey, I'm gonna have to borrow your bicycle, but I'll be back!" "Oh, Robertson." "Yes, sir?" "I want to talk to you." "I got some news you might like to hear." "What news is that, sir?" "I've been given permission to approve requests for transfer." "I'm honoring yours." "You'll be in another outfit within an hour." "Lieutenant, I'd hoped you'd forgotten that." "I don't want a transfer, sir." "Okay." "Thank you, sir." "I see you got some very talented labor." "Not bad, huh?" "How'd you get them so interested in the work?" "It was you guys." "When they saw all these supplies, they figured the war was as good as over." "Hey, now that's the way I like to fight a war." "Let the enemy do it for you." "Huh!" "That's nothin'." "Watch this." "Hey, pretzel!" "Eins, zwei!" "Liftund load" "Lift und load" "Lift und load" " Lift und load" " One for little Adolf" "One for little Adolf" "And one for the Cleveland Indians" "Hey, that's wonderful!" "It ain't the Floradora Sextet, but it kills me." "You got a union." "So long." "Hey, Partridge!" "Where ya goin'?" "Partridge." "Hey!" "Say, is that really you, Higgins?" "It sure is!" "And you- You can't be Wilson." "Who'd you think I was?" "Eisenhower?" "You could have fooled me." "This is the first time I've seen you guys clean." "We got clean uniforms, showers and shaves." "What happened?" "Germany surrender?" "No, Campbell did it." "He gave us 4 hours off." "Not because he wanted to." "Because the trucks are so beat-up, they won't run." "And look." "Hide that, will ya?" "Before he figures some way to take supplies up to Patton by bicycle." "Why don't you lay off Campbell?" "Yeah, I'm tired of hearin' you gripe." "You're gettin' to sound as bad as Wilson." "Joke!" "We'll all be at the Maison D'Or, Partridge." "You can join us." "Nothin' in the world's gonna stop me." "I'll see ya." "For free." "Hey, say somethin' else charming." "Why, that's easy!" "Hey, hey, hey!" "Come and get it!" "Hi!" "What do you say?" "Sorry, fellas." "This is high-priority merchandise." "I'm gonna Red Ball her right to the bar." "Sergeant, don't let me stand in your way." "Baby, you're with me." "Hey, waiter!" "Well, go on, Sarge." "You're spoke for." "Hey, baby, you speak English?" "What's the matter?" "English a dirty word?" "What's your pleasure?" "Oh, you've had a few." "No, no." "I'm just intoxicated by your presence." "Come on." "Aren't you gonna let me buy you a drink?" "Vermouth cassis." "Vermouth" "Cassis?" "Certainement." "Um, how did you find your way here?" "Oh, we had to come to Cherbourg for some supplies, so we thought we'd take in the sights." " Why aren't you on the road?" " Simon Legree gave us a couple hours off." "Maybe so he could think of something dirty to do to us when we get back." "Why do you dislike him so much?" "He, my brother Al and myself were close friends once." "So, what did he do to ya?" "Well, Al and Chick... were drivin' a double-trailer load of gas over the Rockies." "Somethin' went wrong with the truck." "It jackknifed, went off the road into the woods, turned over and caught on fire." "Campbell jumped out when he saw trouble comin'." "Al got pinned in the cab." "Instead of goin' back to get him, Campbell turned yellow and ran." "Didn't he have anything to say- any explanation?" "Explanation?" "He said he was thrown out of the cab when the truck jackknifed." "He was knocked cold." "When he came to, Al was" "Hi, Lieutenant Campbell." "Whiskey." "Take off those bars and come outside." "You're makin' a mistake, Red." "So I'm makin' a mistake." "Get him." "Yes, sir." "You're sort of throwing' the book at him, aren't you, Lieutenant?" "You know what's on his mind." "So you do too." "Well, look, Miss Red Cross." "Let's get one thing straight:" "When that truck went up in flames, there wasn't anything anybody could do." "Are you sure?" "I hope you never have to see one burn." "If any of you men here are from the 2371st Truck Company, report back to the dump tout de suite." "That's French for "Don't waste a minute."" "Come on." "Out here, beyond the regular Red Ball route, is a spur." "On that spur is Moray, where one of Patton's spearheading tank outfits is bogged down." "For the past 24 hours, the Germans have been trying to cut them off." "They've closed everything behind them except the road through Grouy." "And the tank outfit is out of gasoline." "Yes." "They can hold out as long as their ammo lasts." "But if they had enough gas, they could break out of the encirclement." "And if they don't pretty soon, we might as well write those tanks and men off the books." "We want a small convoy with a maximum load to sneak through... before the Germans know what happened." "Now, Lieutenant, your trucks are outside being loaded." "Get them out in 15 minutes and drive like you've never driven before." "And don't let anything stop you." "If you make it, you probably won't get a medal, but you'll save an awful lot of good men." "Here's Sergeant Kallek for you, Lieutenant." "Thank you, Captain." "Come on." "Get out." "What about the charges against him?" "He's being released to me." "I'd rather take the rap." "Shut up and come with me." "Take cover!" "Take cover." "Hey, Taffy." "That's a German tank." "If we only had a bazooka." "Hey, if anything happens, give this to Antoinette, will you?" "It's all I've got." "Hey, where you goin'?" "Tonight I'm a bazooka." "Okay, Red, let's get rollin'." "Roll in." "Roll in." "Well, you made great time, Lieutenant." "I'm afraid you're a little too late." "Tank outfit captured?" "No, but it's a matter of minutes." "Krauts set fire to Moray, and they're completely cut off." "Do we have to go through Moray?" "Well, there's only one road, and that was it." "Then we have to go through Moray." "That's very dramatic, Lieutenant, but how you gonna get all this gasoline through a burning town?" "Look at that." "Burning like election night." "Anybody get through that, they can land a job in a circus." "You think those truckers will try to get through that furnace?" "If they do, I'll eat these stripes." "I can't blame them much, though." "Those guys get all the work and none of the glory." "This is glory?" "Bring it up here on the double!" "Well, there it is." "You mean we're gonna drive through that?" "At least we'll see the road." "It might be a little dangerous if one of the trucks gets stalled." "You get stalled in there, buddy, you'll be drivin' the only ten-wheeled Roman candle in France." "Okay." "We go as fast as we can." "Only remember:" "Don't crowd anyone." "Keep... 20 yards apart." "At the bottom of the hill, you'll find the main drag." "It's the only street that goes through the town." "You make a right turn into her." "If the street is blocked, ride over it, around it- climb a building if you have to." "But don't stall your truck." "If you do, you'll pile up everybody behind you." "Sergeant Kallek will take the lead truck." "Good luck." "When I pull out, you can swing around me." "Yeah, sure." "What truck you gonna be in, Lieutenant?" "The last?" "Look at that!" "It's murder!" "So it's murder." "Get out on the running board and tell me where to turn." "Turn right!" "Turn right!" "Heyman!" "Turn!" "Turn!" "There's one of our trucks!" "Hey, Lieutenant!" "Here he comes!" "He made it!" "Hey, Lieutenant, for awhile we thought you were a goner!" "What are you guys doin' here?" "We're waitin' for you." "Well, come on!" "Let's go!" "Lieutenant!" "Headlights out of Moray." "I don't believe it!" "It's them!" "It's them!" "Come on!" "Get the lead out!" "Get those nozzles ready." "The gasoline's coming!" "Hey, what's happening?" "Hey, fellas." " Lift and load" " Lift and load" "Lift and load Lift and load" "One for Hitler One for Hitler" "And one for the road" "Little further down the road." "She'll be there waiting." "She always is." "Hey!" "Hi, Partridge!" "Partridge, you look great!" "Well, sir, you wanna hear all about it?" "This time, yeah." "I jumped out of that truck, rolled off the road and hit my noggin'." "When I came to, I picked up a bicycle, but I couldn't catch you, so I, uh, just peddled back here and, uh, killed a little time." "Here's your notebook." "Oh!" "Boy, have I got a chapter to write!" "Come and get it!" "Okay, take ten." "As a matter of fact, take 20!" "Cup of coffee, Red?" "All right!" "All right!" "Lift and load" "One for Hitler" "And one for the road"