A lesson from history

Trucks of the Red Ball Express in operation. No frills, just a constant flow of supplies

Today I was listening to a WWII history about the Red Ball Express, which operated continuously for 83 days to supply the rapid Allied advance through France. Once the allies broke out from Normandy, they ran into a logistical problem that demanded an immediate solution. How do you keep 28 Allied divisions supplied while it pushes forward miles each day? How do you prevent a lack of ammunition, fuel, food, and supplies from halting the army, instead of the enemy's forces? This was the situation the allies faced.

Operation Red Ball was conceived and implemented after a 36 hour meeting to solve the problem. Nearly 6,000 trucks ran during it's peak, carrying 12,500 tons of supplies every day. They ran day and night along two selected roadways, one for loaded trucks and the other for returning trucks. The men who drove in this continuous convoy did so while exhausted for long stretches of time. 75% of the drivers were African-Americans who were denied the chance to be in combat roles. They overwhelmed the German forces with the supplies they delivered to combat units. Without them and their efforts, the Allied forces would have moved much slower while they waited for supplies to reach them. The Germans would have had more time to regroup and fight back. It was an amazing human and logistical achievement.

So what was the lesson I learned from this story? It came when the narrator was talking about how the Red Ball Express dealt with setbacks, went around obstacles, and built new bridges and roads.

"German engineers observed American construction methods with amazement. No planning meetings. No detailed blueprints. Just immediate action."

The lesson to me was "immediate action."

I plan, I think, and then I plan some more. I have the urge to wait until I have all the information available (which I never do) before committing myself to course. It's not that I always do this. No one always does something. But I do it too often.

The Red Ball Express had a clear mission. Deliver a constant flow of supplies to the rapidly moving Allied front. The men in this operation did everything they could to make that happen. They acted with imperfect plans, imperfect trucks (but lots of them), solutions that were made up on the fly, and kept pushing forward.

The lessons here for me were to:

Determine a clear outcome or mission
Act on it now. Don't wait for perfection.