text: Chapter 2
  required, and gives sustainers additional time to position resources required to support their commander’s
  plan.
  2-133. Often, sustainment actions to support an operation must occur prior to commencement of the
  operation itself, as when the priority of support shifts to the main effort for the next phase of an operation in
  order to ensure operations can continue uninterrupted. While the pace of operations will dictate the frequency
  required, planners should reconcile the operations and logistics synchronization matrices often to validate the
  plan and adjust sustainment operations to the changing operational picture.
  2-134. The inherent joint nature of operations at this level will require the Army to provide support to other
  services, both sustainment and non-sustainment. As Army planners develop the concept of sustainment at
  each echelon, they must ensure all ASOS requirements are accounted for. This will mitigate the risk of
  sustainment shortfalls that could lead to early culmination of the operational plan.
  Responsiveness and Improvisation: The Red Ball Express
  To remain effective, sustainers must continually respond to the needs of the
  commander. Often sustainers must improvise to meet those requirements in a timely
  fashion.
  After the breakout from Normandy in July 1944, an acute shortage of supplies and
  transportation plagued the Allied advance. Some 28 divisions were advancing across
  France and Belgium, each requiring 700–750 tons of supplies a day. The Army did not
  have enough trucks or drivers to support the divisions. Patton’s Third Army was in
  danger of culminating due to a lack of supplies. Controlled supply rates of fuel and
  ammunition were imposed, not due to a lack of supply, but because of the challenges
  in moving the supplies to the units that needed them. The key to maintaining the pursuit
  was a continuous resupply of fuel and ordnance. The solution was the Red Ball
  Express.
  The Army Service Forces consolidated its trucks into provisional units. Soldiers from
  all over the U.S. forces became drivers. The first convoys quickly bogged down in
  civilian and military traffic. In response, a priority route, marked by signage featuring
  the Red Ball, was established on two parallel highways between the Normandy
  beachhead and the city of Chartres, France and the Red Ball Express was born. Truck
  drivers drove around the clock to push supplies to the front. Their herculean effort in
  sustaining the Allied drive became famous.
  At peak operation, the Red Ball Express was running 5,938 vehicles a day carrying
  12,342 tons of supplies to forward depots. While lasting only 3 months, from August to
  November 1944, the Red Ball Express saved the Allied advance. Without it, the Allied
  offensive would have culminated, prolonging the war. The Red Ball Express was an
  innovative solution to maintain the offensive momentum. The improvisation and
  responsiveness of Army Service Force leaders gave the Allies the operational reach
  and endurance to continue operations in their press toward Berlin. Because of its
  effectiveness, the term and concepts of the Red Ball Express continues to this day.
  Sustainment Force Flow
  2-135. In order for the Army to maintain its strategic reach, it must be able to project combat power to an
  operational area. Sustainment commands conduct reception, staging, onward-movement, and integration of
  forces for the commander. There are several key units that perform the functions to execute reception, staging,
  onward-movement, and integration; manage ports; and move the elements of combat power to assembly
  areas. It is important to plan for adequate sustainment capacity to both conduct reception, staging,
  onward-movement, and integration and support the force as it flows into theater.