Whether the rail systems north of the Pripet marshes in 1941 was more badly damaged than the French system in 1944 is unknown, probably less close to the start line but more later. Until the Germans crossed the old Baltic States and Polish border the 1939 rail gauge was standard, some changes had been made.
The US army had begun to supply army sized units in combat in Sicily and learnt that meant the invasion had to include the appropriate supply units. In France it was going to move to supplying an Army Group much further from the ports, it would learn much in 1944.
The Germans in the USSR could make up trains in Germany and send them to the front line, if there were any shortages reported it was possible to at least send the requirements towards the front quickly. The US army had a supply line that took weeks from US depot to arriving in France, then the ports had to be working well, not only landing cargo but clearing it to be put on trains to depots to sort it out and then forward despatch.
As the allies were liberators they needed to provide support to the civil populations and they were dealing with an average more urban population, cities rapidly become death zones without their support services. See the note about Berlin at the end of this message. When the US published the translations of intercepted Japanese diplomatic traffic there are a couple from Paris in 1941 pleading for food packages. As noted the allies shipped over 6 million tons of civil relief into the ETO in the final year of the war. No record of German civil relief supplies.
One thing is clear from the supply histories, the Nazis were a bunch of locusts, creating shortages of most basic items everywhere, including food, fuel and clothing. The further the allies advanced the more civil relief supplies they needed to find and the more it competed for space on limited transport links. In effect the local food supply of France becomes worse the further north and east you go, with Belgium probably worse again.
On 15th August Anvil/Dragoon landings start, amongst the units landed in the first two days are 25 truck companies and 2 gasoline supply companies. The supplies include 300,000 blankets and 350,000 sets of Red Cross relief clothing for the civilian population, due to the known shortages. The French forces were mainly combat, very few supply units, so the US did much of the supply for the French 1st Army. The French were very reluctant to form rear area units, wanting to contribute the maximum number of combat troops.
On the day before Paris falls in a nice legal move the German Commandant transfers titles of all local food stocks to the International Red Cross, this was "thwarted" by the allies. Over 100,000 citizens of Paris have fled to the surrounding countryside, they are not permitted to return for several weeks as they can be fed more easily in the countryside. Food in Paris is reasonable but most is in the black market system, meaning only the wealthy have the money for proper food. On 24th August the Seine base section is activated to control the area around Paris, firstly for civil relief. As part of the relief efforts for Paris 5,000 French volunteers are given trucks and formed into provisional transport units (Later the trucks would be replaced by 1,500 trucks allocated for civil affairs). The units are allocated 5,000 gallons a day
In late August 12th Army Group noted it needed around 2,100 tons/day for fighter airfield construction. Paris was assessed as needing 2,000 tons/day by air but ended up with around 1,500 tons. At the end of August coal is becoming an urgent requirement, for rail traffic, Paris and for the approaching cold weather. A survey in early September of the Nord and Pas de Calais coal fields reveals 1,000,000 metric tons in stockpiles, 100,000 tons on barges, and 15,000 tons on rail cars. The barges were largely land locked by the destroyed bridges and other damage.
On 12th September (D+98) allied armies are on the D+350 line, so in 18 days they had captured territory the plan expected to have taken 260 days, but the advance has largely stopped in the North. As a further problem as the allies move further away from the coast they capture regions of increasing food shortages, Belgium in particular, plus Northern France, complicating the supply situation, since it means troops cannot easily find food locally instead they have to start devoting supply tonnage to civil relief. These needs will go up in winter with more coal needed. End September Rail infrastructure captured after the end of the pursuit was usually sabotaged, some 25% of track demolished, the allies had expected 50%.
Cargo transported by air August and September 1944. Columns are week ending / to 12th Army Group / to 21st Army Group / to Paris. Supply in tons (unknown whether short or long, probably short)
26 Aug / 4,185 / 350 / 0
2 Sep / 1,877 / 917 / 1,676
9 Sep / 3,516 / 2,787 / 975
16 Sep / 3,221 / 3,712 / 0
Total / 12,799 / 7,766 / 2,631
Grand total 23,216 tons, 2,849 by the RAF 20,367 by the USAAF.
At the end of October Toulon is handed to the French for civil relief supplies, since the supply situation in the south is that good, the limit is rail capacity, not port. 21st Army group "The problem of dealing with refugees, evacuation of displaced persons and accommodation was becoming serious, particularly in Second Army Area." There was no coal for civil heating. The allies needed to import a ton of pit props for every 40 tons of coal mined on the continent, pit props were proving to be the limiting factor along with manpower.
On 18th November the first coal barges arrive in Paris. On the 19th and 20th November Metz is captured, 3rd Army calls for 1,900 tons of civil relief for the population and receives 56 tons, only by using around 800 tons of captured food is the situation relieved.
By the end of November 1st Army had 7.3 days of POL, 3rd 6.7 days and 9th 9.3 days. By now there are German PoWs in French coal mines and logging camps.
In January the workers at Antwerp will go on strike due to a lack of food, clothing and coal. Some 646 trains will be delayed in France due to lack of coal. The tyre situation is so bad arrangements are made to manufacture them locally and the idea of buying some from Spain is considered. Lack of food and clothing for civilians lead to widespread strikes, in Belgium the result is coal production declines to 60% of the previous month. Bad weather means Paris is receiving only 12,000 tons of coal per day instead of the minimum requirement of 20,000 tons.
During the winter coal production and imports have always been below minimum requirements. SHAEF allocated 65 to 70% of the US forces requests and deliveries rarely exceeded 50% of the army's total need. Paris had been rationed to a few hours of gas and electricity every day.
On to Berlin post war, in the first months of occupation some 65% of newborns in Berlin die of disease, the ration is around 800 calories a day, 150 out of 240 hospitals are in service in July but there is a lack of supplies.
