World War II In Colour – Fuelling The Fire

AN ARMY MARCHES ON ITS STOMACH. Napoleon It has been said that war is a hungry beast that devours everything in its path. In order to feed that beast in World War II, the leaders of the allied forces challenged themselves to create the most advanced supply system in the history of warfare. The amount of supplies needed to keep the men in the field was staggering. In the Pacific theatre, a government source calculated that 18 men were needed in the supply chain to keep one rifleman firing. During the conflict, the men and women who sustained the war effort accomplished one of the most monumental tasks in history. Producing and delivering the supplies that made victory possible. There were the crews of naval fleet trains moving men and supplies in the Pacific, merchant sailors on Liberty Ships sustaining the war effort in Europe as well as men on cargo planes air-dropping food and ammunition to isolated jungle outposts in Burma. They were the key to maintaining the fighting forces in the field. Without them the allied war-machine would have ground to a halt.