Thanks M1, looks like this will will be a good read of another untold story of the men who overcame the tremedous logistical & technolgical problems of keeping our armies moving.
At the start of the planning for the Normandy invasion, undersea pipeline technology wasnt even in existince. The only pipe available for underwater use was telephone cable with the conductor core removed. For the first 2 months after the invasion, fuel was pumped from tankers anchored a mile offshore to storage tanks near the beach, from which Jerry Cans were filled and trucked to the front. It wasnt till after the Cherborg Peninsula was cleared and the port captured that the "PLUTO" pipelines were layed. Later pipelines were layed under the channel to the Pais de Calais near Bologne. The role of the EPDCs was to extend, operate & maintain those pipelines overland to the forward supply dumps. By the end of the war these pipelines were layed all the way to the Rhine.
In January 1945 the system delivered a disappointing 300 tons (per day) but by March this had increased to 3000 tons and later still to 4000 tons. This amounted to over 1,000,000 gallons per day giving a total of 172,000,000 gallons delivered in total up to the end of hostilities.