Highballing to Victory (1944)

[Music] e [Music] in 1940 Hitler made his great bid for the domination of Europe his armies smashed across the borders of the Netherlands Belgium [Music] France in 1940 Hitler looked towards the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Beyond it towards another Tower the Statue of Liberty 4 years later this happened to [Music] him 4 years later American Wheels started rolling through the cities of France rolling East towards Berlin this is the red ball Express this oneway highway is a revolution in the science of military supply it starts at the beaches of Normandy and extends for hundreds of miles past Paris and into the front lines of battle over it in a NeverEnding stream thousands of American trucks are highballing to Victory the dozens of thousands of tires on the red ball speed along averaging 40 m an hour around the clock over this great Turnpike American Tires carrying American Equipment have changed the tide of War these trucks are rolling on endlessly these trucks as well as these bombers on heavy SHO mes they speed along the runway on spinning rubber they lift their loads into the Air day after day night after night while these trucks and planes strike a Germany from the West Russia squeezes the Nazis back from the East here too American lendley trucks rolling on American lendley tires are on the job in Italy heavy guns on giant tires are wheeled into position mobile artillery rolling with the Fifth Army up the boot no war has ever moved as much as this one it moves on tires this is part of the equipment we built to invade Europe by now most of these weapons are used up these trucks have been worn out these planes smashed and burnt these guns destroyed these tires are car ities of War their fighting days are over but they have left their treads in the dust of France the mud of Italy the Snows of Russia here at home tough strong men are doing a tough dirty job Rolling Rubber onto the roads airports and battlefields of Many Lands many of our country's women have joined them in 3 years of war Americans have built the Great greatest rubber industry in the world so great a number of our tires go overseas that we're forced to cut down here at home you've watched trucks and buses cting vital War supplies in your cities and towns in one summer month you watch them use up 135,000 tires you won't anymore only 73,000 tires are available for the last 3 months of the year the tires you won't see at home are being s overseas 140,000 of them for Replacements alone in these same 3 months think of the tires needed to equip one Infantry Division 1,400 trucks over 100 mobile artillery pieces all manner of Armored Cars half tracks ammunition trailers ambulances from ports of embarcation like this one rubber starts its long dangerous trip to combat if these truck tires get to their destination they will last about 10,000 Mi if they get there these whether they end in watery Graves or funeral ties are part of the manifold waste of War even as men tires are wounded tires die even as Men of War tires of War have their stories to tell here is one battle casually a tire with hand stitching it was sewed up by a truck driver as he helped to chase raml Out of Africa after roadside repairs it rolled all the way across the desert into Tunisia here is another this one's injuries were more critical it too was hand stitched by a driver this time in Italy it came to a sudden end ripped to pieces on a winding Mountain Road this tire was killed in action here is how it met its [Music] death tires of the air suffer their own particular wounds every time a plane lands chips of rubber are sliced Away by the impact [Music] at best an airplane tire will last for 200 good Landing here are the results of some bad [Music] ones and for every bad landing other tires roll into action crash wagons fire trucks ambulances up to October 1944 we had lost 42,000 planes since the beginning of the war 42,000 planes means that number of tires multiplied many times perhaps the most important need for more tires has developed with our drive to arm China against Japan these Chinese soldiers are among the few we have been able to equip with American weapons millions of others like them are waiting for more equipment rolling to them on our tires this is an Airfield in India transports like these have been used to carry everything from diplomats to other airplanes Pocket Editions of [Music] themselves during the past year these planes their great weight mounted on rubber tires have fed more Goods across the Himalayas than were ever carried over the Burma Road every 10 minutes a plane leaves India carrying cargo for us and our Chinese alive cargo that includes Machines of War which also use tires Jeeps trucks [Music] ambulances these planes land at menau and Burma to repair the airport there construction equipment was flown in anything that could be broken up into four ton units this bulldozer came by air so did this roller it took the space of two and 1/3 transport planes to F in one dump truck six planes to carry a patrol grader we use up tires on the trucks and graders we use up tires on the planes that F them but we cannot Supply China by air alone and here is where tires come in again we have built the road through these same mountains the Leo Road American engineers and Equipment have constructed the India Burma leg the Chinese are helping us build the connecting link with China with their bare hands the Chinese are scratching a path through their mountains a path to save China as they saved it 2,000 years ago by building the Great Wall men and women and children are laboring here carrying away the Earth loosening the age-old rock stone by Stone they're building their road to Freedom Manpower has kept China Alive Now horsepower is taking over we're putting the Chinese war against Japan on Wheels this Ferry carrying American trucks will be replaced in time by a bridge but now all that counts is to get through through to the vast patient land and Beyond this is the road American Tires must travel towards Tokyo this is the road guns and food and ammunition and supplies must cross we must carry enough weapons to fight battles over an area greater than twice the sum total of Italy France and Germany this is the Chinese red ball Express these are the trucks and tires High balling to victory over [Music] [Music] Japan [Music] hundreds of thousands of new heavy duty tires will leave their marks on the road to Japan we will build a new Chinese wall a wall of armor that will move on rubber we will not rest until we have praded into the Earth of Asia the tread of American Tires the Rolling Wheels that will destroy forever fascism and [Music] japanism