Editing Von Ryan's Express (section)

==Plot==
In 1943 American Colonel Joseph Ryan, a [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]] [[P-38]] pilot, is shot down over Italy and taken to a POW camp run by the [[National Fascist Party|Fascist]] camp commander, Major Basilio Battaglia, and his sympathetic second-in-command, Captain Vittorio Oriani. Most prisoners are from the British 9th [[Fusilier#United Kingdom|Fusiliers]] whose commanding officer recently died after being placed in a "[[Box (torture)|sweat box]]" as punishment for hitting Battaglia. Ryan assumes command of the camp as the most senior officer much to the dismay of Major Eric Fincham, the most-senior British officer.

Ryan starts to infuriate Fincham. First he declines to support Fincham's escape attempts because Italy is close to [[Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy|surrender]]. Second he orders Fincham to distribute [[Red Cross]] medical supplies to the seriously ill prisoners after some American prisoners are caught stealing medicine from a secret British hoard. Third he angers Fincham by revealing an escape plan to Battaglia in exchange for better treatment of the prisoners. But when Battaglia refuses to issue new clothing, Ryan orders prisoners to strip and burn their filthy uniforms. Battaglia throws Ryan into the sweat box as punishment.

After [[Armistice of Cassibile|Italy surrenders]], the camp guards flee and Ryan is freed; the British promptly convict Battaglia as a [[war criminal]]. Ryan sentences him to the sweat box rather than being executed.

A German fighter plane overflies the camp, forcing Ryan and the POWs to flee into the Italian countryside. Captain Oriani agrees to make contact with Allied forces on their behalf. However, the next morning, the Germans recapture the prisoners and force them into train [[covered goods wagon|boxcars]]. Fincham assumes Oriani betrayed them until he is found severely beaten onboard. The freed Battaglia comes to gloat at their misfortune. Before leaving, the Germans shoot all the sick prisoners. Fincham blames Ryan for letting Battaglia live, and derogatively calls him "''[[von]]'' Ryan". In Rome Major von Klemment, takes command of the prisoner transport.

As the train heads northward through Italy, Ryan pries up the railcar floorboards. That night Ryan, Fincham, and Lt. Orde climb out of their car and free some POWs, who then kill the remaining guards on the train taking their uniforms as a disguise. Ryan and Fincham find von Klemment and his Italian mistress, Gabriella, in the command car. 

Lights start to follow the captured train. Von Klemment reveals it is a German troop train on the same schedule. Von Klemment also states he must stop in [[Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station|Florence]] to receive new orders. To get through the station, German-speaking British chaplain, Captain Costanzo, bravely impersonates the German commander with Fincham and Ryan dressed as German soldiers. However, the prisoners are nearly recaptured when a [[Gestapo|Gestapo officer]] boards the train to buy Ryan's American watch. Ryan coolly barters with the German agent before he leaves with the watch. 

The orders in Florence show that both trains are headed to [[Innsbruck]], Austria. Using a forged typewritten order, the prisoners switch their train onto a different line at [[Bologna]] while the troop train continues on toward Innsbruck. Ryan, still dressed as a German soldier, is forced to shoot Von Klemment and Gabriella after they escape from the train. Her death disgusts the Italian civilians who see Ryan as a Nazi. 

The German High Command begin inquiries after discovering that the train has been diverted. That night the train and POWs become victims of an Allied bombing raid over Northern Italy. With three dead and some sixty wounded, Oriani and the train's Italian engineer tell Ryan and Fincham that their only option is to reroute the train at [[Milan]] to [[Switzerland during the world wars|neutral Switzerland]]. However, the Germans now realise the train has been captured by the POWs so [[Waffen-SS|SS troops]] have set up an ambush ahead. But the prisoners capture a signal box and reroute the train in time. 

In the [[Italian Alps]] just before the Swiss border, rockets from a [[Nord Pingouin|German aircraft]] cause boulders to fall onto the track halting the train. Undamaged rails from behind the train have to be used to fix the crushed sections. Meanwhile SS troops in another train eventually catch up. Ryan, Fincham, and some POWs stay behind to hold them off. A vicious battle begins. Eventually the track in front of the prisoner train is repaired and it begins to move. Fincham and the surviving POWs get back onboard but Ryan is killed just as the train steams to the safety of Switzerland.