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9th Transportation Group (Highway Transport)
Communications Zone Europe
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Group History (1952-19..)

2nd Trans Bn

806th Trans Bn


 
Group History
9th Trans Traffic Reg Group DI
(Source: STARS & STRIPES, July 20, 1954)
The 9th Transportation Group (Highway Transport) is located at Saran, France. CO of the Group is COL I. L. Brenneman.

The 9th Trans Gp is the highway transportation arm of the Communications Zone. Its mission is to provide military line-haul service on the line of communication in France. Known as the RED BALL EXPRESS, the highway movement operation utilizes a trailer transfer system that allows assigned drivers to pick up their cargo (12-ton semi-trailer loaded with supplies or equipment) with their 5-ton tractor-trucks and make a run from their home base to an intransit station (known as a transfer trailer point) along the LOC. At the TTP, the driver's tractor is disconnected from their original trailer which will then be picked up by a tractor from another unit for the next leg of the haul -- to the next TTP or final destination. The first driver picks up a new trailer headed in the opposite direction and returns to his original station.

RED BALL EXPRESS, 1954
   Under this system the drivers can get back to their home station every two to three days. The average round-trip for a RED BALL driver is 480 miles.

The RED BALL route is 600 miles long, stretching from the western terminus at Camp Bussac in France to the eastern terminus at Kaiserslautern in Germany. The transportation units that perform the line-haul mission along the route are the 1st (1), 78th, 651st and 655th Trans Companies (Med Trk). Transfer trailer points are located at Saran and Toul.

Hqs at Saran, France provides centralized control of the entire operation. A big schematic diagram showing the RED BALL operation hangs in the operations room at Saran. Small cut-outs of trucks representing convoys are tacked onto the diagram to show current location and number of trucks on each leg of the route.

The RED BALL EXPRESS mission was initiated in November 1952.

The 9th Trans Gp has been in France since Feb 28, 1952.

(1) The 1st Trans Co is responsible for moving heavy engineer equipment in the Com Z.
 
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