Soldiers from the American 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army stand next to a GMC CCKW-352 truck as they prepare for combat operations in Europe. Color photograph World War II.
GMC CCKW-352 is a 2.5-ton US Army truck with a 6X6 wheel formula. Used during World War II and the Korean War. He was nicknamed “Jimmy” and “deuce and a half” by the troops. The CCKW was produced in a variety of variants, with an open or closed cab, with a long wheelbase (LWB 353) or short (SWB 352).
A total of 562,750 were built (only slightly less than the Willys MB along with the Ford GPW). GMC CCKW-352 trucks were used en masse in Operation Red Ball Express, a large-scale transport system created by the Allies to supply troops in Western Europe after the Invasion of Normandy. The system lasted from August 25 to November 16, 1944, when the port in Antwerp was opened. At its peak, the system used 5,958 trucks and transported about 12,500 tons of supplies daily.
On the basis of the base chassis of the GMC CCKW-352 truck, many other types of vehicles were created: a dump truck, a tank truck, a vehicle for transporting aerial bombs, a surgical vehicle, a flatbed vehicle, etc. The vehicle was widely used by the Allied countries after the end of World War II.