Fact1: masterpieces of modern art stolen by Wehrmacht are being shipped to Germany, Fact2: officer in charge of operation is determined to take paintings to Germany, Fact3: Resistance cell leader and SNCF area inspector Paul Labiche rejects plan, Fact4: cantankerous elderly engineer is executed for trying to sabotage train on his own, Fact5: Pesquet have been organizing own plan to stop train with help of other SNCF Resistance members
Output: In 1944, masterpieces of modern art stolen by the Wehrmacht are being shipped to Germany; the officer in charge of the operation, Colonel Franz von Waldheim Paul Scofield, is determined to take the paintings to Germany, no matter the cost. After the works chosen by Waldheim are removed from the Jeu de Paume Museum, curator Mademoiselle Villard Suzanne Flon seeks help from the French Resistance. Given the imminent liberation of Paris by the Allies, they need only delay the train for a few days, but it is a dangerous operation and must be done in a way that does not risk damaging the priceless cargo. Resistance cell leader and SNCF area inspector Paul Labiche Burt Lancaster initially rejects the plan, telling Mlle. Villard and senior Resistance leader Spinet Paul Bonifas, I wont waste lives on paintings; but he has a change of heart after a cantankerous elderly engineer, Papa Boule Michel Simon, is executed for trying to sabotage the train on his own. After that sacrifice, Labiche joins his Resistance teammates Didont Albert Remy and Pesquet Charles Millot, who have been organizing their own plan to stop the train with the help of other SNCF Resistance members. They devise an elaborate ruse to reroute the train, temporarily changing railway station signage to make it appear to the German escort as if they are heading to Germany when they have actually turned back toward Paris. They then arrange a double collision in the small town of RiveReine that will block the train without risking the cargo. Labiche, although shot in the leg, escapes on foot with the help of the widowed owner of a RiveReine hotel, Christine Jeanne Moreau, while other Resistance members involved in the plot are executed. The night after the collision, Labiche and Didont meet Spinet again, along with young Robert the nephew of Jacques, the executed RiveReine station master and plan to paint the tops of three wagons white to warn off Allied aircraft from bombing the art train. Robert recruits railroad workers and friends of his Uncle Jacques from nearby Montmirail, but the marking attempt is discovered, and Robert and Didont are both killed. Now working alone, Labiche continues to delay the train after the tracks are cleared, to the mounting rage of von Waldheim. Finally, Labiche manages to derail the train without endangering civilian hostages that the colonel has placed on the locomotive to prevent it being blown up. Von Waldheim flags down a retreating army convoy and learns that a French armoured division is not far behind. The colonel orders the train unloaded and attempts to commandeer the trucks, but the officer in charge refuses to obey his orders. The trains small German contingent kills the hostages and joins the retreating convoy. Von Waldheim remains behind with the abandoned train. Crates are strewn everywhere between the tracks and the road, labelled with the names of famous artists. Labiche appears and the colonel castigates him for having no real interest in the art he has saved: In response, Labiche turns and looks at the murdered hostages. Then, without a word, he turns back to von Waldheim and shoots him. Afterwards he limps away, leaving the corpses and the art treasures where they lie.