Red Ball Express Wrecker

By JIM "BUCK" SORRENTI - AT Field Editor The Red Ball Express was an enormous Army truck convoy system that delivered critically needed supplies to the front lines during WWII. Running day and night in one huge continuous high-speed convoy, the Red Ball Express shuttled troops, ammunition, food, fuel and other needed supplies and equipment to General Patton's squads and Allied forces as they stormed across France toward Germany in the late summer and fall of 1944, never stopping for anything. "Keep 'Em Rollin!" was the battle cry of the Red Ball Express. The Red Ball system began operating on Aug. 25, 1944. The drivers were pushed as hard as the trucks, eating and sleeping when they could, often going without food and rest. Speeding was part of the mystique of the Red Ball drivers. Drivers and mechanics were known to remove governors to raise their speed over 50 mph; tires shredded from road hazards, and overloaded trucks flipped over. Speeding, inexperienced drivers, falling asleep at the wheel and overloaded trucks caused numerous accidents along the route of the Red Ball Express. If a vehicle broke down or went in the ditch, Red Ball wreckers were used to get them out and to haul them off to keep the route clear. A Diamond T chassis and a Holmes W45 twin-boom wrecker were matched to create this workhorse of Patton's Red Ball Express, a wrecker rated to pull 15 tons. This Red Ball Express Wrecker was designated as the Diamond-T 969A 4-ton 6x6 wrecker. Diamond T 969A was a vehicle recovery truck based on a 4-ton 6x6 chassis, powered by a 529-cid Hercules RXC six-cylinder gasoline SV liquid-cooled engine that developed 106 hp., and was mated to a five-speed manual transmission and two-speed transfer case with a direct- and under-drive transfer, manufactured from roughly 1940 until 1945 by the Diamond T Motor Car Co. in Chicago. Unlike the M-series wreckers, which used the truck air brake system as an air source for tire inflation as well as other uses, the Diamond T 969A left the factory with a self-contained air compressor mounted between the twin booms. More than 6,000 969 and 969A wreckers were produced, fitted with closed cab from 1940 until late 1942, and as open cab from late 1942 until 1945 for anti-aircraft machine guns. The soft-top cabs, which began production in 1943, could be fitted with a machine gun ring mount. In addition to the winches on the Holmes bed, these trucks carried a Garwood Winch type 3-U-615 rated at 15,000 lbs., mounted behind the front bumper. Garwood Winches were primarily worm-gear mechanically driven winches that were sold to civilians as well as to the military. The Holmes W45 heavy-duty military wrecker bed was an adaptation of the standard Holmes W45 twin-boom civilian wrecker. The Holmes W45 is a twin-boom design with two 5-ton winches mounted behind the cab. Each winch was equipped with 200' of wire rope. The twin-boom design allows side recoveries to be made by swinging the boom to that side, and swinging and tying off the other boom to the opposite side to stabilize the wrecker. Either boom could operate as a normal crane, but together the booms provided a greater lifting capacity at the rear of the vehicle for suspended tows. As with most of the military wreckers, the Red Ball wrecker was fitted with stabilizer legs on each side of the bed, just behind the cab, to keep the vehicle upright when the booms were used for side lifts. This also saved the necessity of using the opposite boom as an anchor. The Red Ball Express was officially terminated on November 16, 1944, when it had completed its mission. The operation lasted barely three months, but by that time more than 6,000 trucks and their trailers had transported 412,193 tons of needed supplies. It is said that the Allied victory in Europe could not have happened without the Red Ball Express. One awesome unit is on display at the International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum in Chattanooga, Tenn. The 1943 wrecker has serial No. AB3-3613, assigned on 2-12-43. The wrecker was used in France, after the invasion, in conjunction with the Red Ball Express. The U.S. Army used this wrecker until 1947. After the war, the wrecker was given to the French army. It was sold, at auction, in 1973 to a garage near Metz, France, but was never used. The vehicle went through a series of owners before being returned to Chattanooga on Dec. 18, 1997, and placed on display in the museum. It is one of the most popular and historic vehicles on display in the museum and worth a visit. Show Yours @ TIW Do you have a recovery to share with TIW readers? Send some pics and info to the editor at bdooley@towman.com; your recovery may even be selected for print in American Towman magazine!