''Highballing to Victory'' is a short US propaganda film made toward the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
about the importance of material and transportation in the war effort.
After some stylized, art deco, opening credits, the film begins with a shot of Hitler and scenes from Nazi rallies and early conquests in Europe. "In 1940 Germany set out to dominate Europe" the narrator begins. "He look upon the
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
Locally nicknamed "' ...
, and beyond it, to the
Statue of Liberty." Then the scene switches to scenes in Paris soon after its liberation. "But in 1944 this happened to him." the film then goes on to explain the revolution in military logistics needed to create the
Red Ball Express
The Red Ball Express was a famed truck convoy system that supplied Allied forces moving quickly through Europe after breaking out from the D-Day beaches in Normandy in 1944. To expedite cargo shipment to the front, trucks emblazoned with red ...
, a system of roadways leading all the way back to Normandy.
In quick succession the film explains how American transportation equipment, especially tires, can be used at that very moment in France, Italy, and in Russia to defeat the third Reich. The narrator reminds us that these materiel begins in America, and even the large amounts of tires and trucks created last year can be "casualties" of war already. The film also emphasizes that it is difficult even to get the materiel to the front, first having to get to port by rail, and then overseas in U-boat inhabited waters. Extensive time is spent on the transportation of materiel to China, and the difficulties getting it to Asia and over the "Hump".
See also
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List of Allied propaganda films of World War II
During World War II and immediately after it, in addition to the many private films created to help the war effort, many Allied countries had governmental or semi-governmental agencies commission propaganda and training films for home and foreig ...
External links
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1944 films
American World War II propaganda shorts
Trucker films
American black-and-white films
1940s English-language films
1940s American films
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