Napoleon understood that an army moves on its stomach. So, too, did U.S. military planners in World War II.

The Germans began the war with a Blitzkrieg attack that relied on mechanized columns of armor to break through enemy lines and advance at unprecedented speed against disorganized resistance. 

The shock of massed armor served the Germans well in the early years of the war. And it gave rise to a myth that still persists today: That the Germans were a fully modern army powered by motorized vehicles.

It was true that the German Army was fully mechanized at the very forefront of its forces. But the logistical train supporting those units was still hopelessly mired in the previous century.

The Germans relied heavily on horse-drawn wagons and railroads to supply its armies in the field.

It was a fatal flaw, and one that only grew worse as the Germans conquered more and more territory and their supply lines became dangerously over-extended.

A Capable, Adaptable and Tough Truck

American military planners, on the other hand, fully understand the power of modern, motorized logistics. 

This was largely due to the geographical nature of the United States.

While long-haul trucking as we know it today didn’t exist yet, trucks were already an indispensable component of American life. Private citizens and businesses alike used trucks daily to move goods. 

Moreover, U.S. military planners recognized that the American automotive industry possessed the capability to mass-produce trucks in staggering numbers. American trucks would power not only the U.S. military in World War II, but the armies of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and Canada, as well.

But what the Army needed was a truck it could depend on in such a vital role.

It required a truck that could haul 2-1/2 tons of cargo in all weather conditions and off-road terrain. The truck needed to be simple to drive, simple to maintain, and simple to repair. It needed to be unrelentingly tough and highly adaptable.

Luckily, General Motors was already working on a highly promising vehicle. In 1939, it had started supplying the French army with militarized, four-wheel-drive versions of its commercial trucks.

Building on that design, GM engineers designed a larger truck with a six-by-six drive. The truck featured a ladder-frame chassis with two wheelbases. The short Model 352 was a 145-inch wheelbase used with a smaller cargo box. It was primarily for towing artillery pieces. All other models featured a 164-inch wheelbase.

Initially, all versions used a militarized General Motors AK series, enclosed cab with a metal roof and doors. 

But by 1944, GMC was producing an open-cab design with a canvas roof and doors. This model was not only quicker and easier to build, but the roof could also be removed entirely to lower the truck’s shipping height. Additionally, the open cab setup allowed for a heavy machine gun mount to be positioned over the passenger seat.

But the truck’s ladder-style frame also gave it unmatched adaptability. In fact, the model allowed the widest array of bodies of any truck then in military service. 

A standard rectangular van body was used for ambulances, communication vehicles and other roles. However, the truck could be configured for anything a mobile army in the field might need. That included mobile dental operating vans, surgical vans, welder’s trucks, water purification trucks, and fire engines.

Power was supplied by GM’s tried-and-true 270 straight-six gasoline engine. The overhead value design churned out a usable 104 horsepower at 2,750 rpm. But above all else, it was a virtually bulletproof design that was easy to maintain and service in the field. 

A Warner T93, five-speed gearbox was standard. This unit featured a direct 4^th gear with 5^th gear being overdrive. The all-wheel drive transfer case featured both high and low gears.

American Mass Production Steps Up

The CCKW began production at General Motors’ Yellow Truck and Coach plant in Pontiac, Michigan. The trucks were also manufactured at Chevrolet’s St. Louis, Missouri, plant as demand intensified after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

The U.S. military didn’t usually honor lowly cargo trucks with flashy model names in those days. Although the truck’s official CCKW designation did provide some basic information about the truck:

• C – 1941 design

• C – conventional cab model

• K – all-wheel drive

• W – dual rear axles.

But “CCKW” didn’t exactly roll off the tongue. So, naturally, American GIs began casting about for something familiar to call the ubiquitous truck. 

The truck’s Army designation number was G-508. That, along with its GMC brand-name, prompted nickname-inclined American servicemen to start calling the truck “the Jimmy.”

But the truck’s two-and-a-half-ton cargo capacity also earned it the name “deuce and Half.” And that name stuck.

Eventually, “deuce and a half” would become a generic term for any military cargo truck, regardless of manufacturer. But the CCKW was the original vehicle to bear the nickname.

Regardless of what it was called, the truck was a hit.

Because it was offered in so many variants, definitive numbers are difficult to determine. But at least 572,000 units were built during the war. In fact, the Jimmy was second only to the mighty Ford-Willys Jeep in total numbers of vehicles built during World War II. 

The CCKW was exactly the right truck at the right time for Allied armies all over the world. It was easy to drive with minimal training and featured exceptional off-road capability. The truck was equally at home in the African desert, on a narrow Belgian roadway, or on a twisting trail hacked out of the Burmese jungle.

Thousands of CCKWs rolled ashore in the days following the Invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. And the truck became the backbone of the famous Red Ball Express –  a corps of African American military truck drivers who kept General Patton’s high-speed armored advance into Germany proper supplied with food, ammunition, and other critical supplies.

The CCKW wasn’t a comfortable truck. This was the Army, after all. So, drivers tended to freeze in the winter and fry in the summer. And if it rained, they got wet.

But the truck they were driving was as reliable as anything in the world at the time. It saw action on every front around the world. It was everything great about American automotive manufacturing capabilities at the time distilled down into a single-purpose design. And it became an essential component in the Allied victory against fascism worldwide.