Atrocity

**Atrocity** is the fifth and final episode of Stories of War and the thirty-fifth episode overall.

Atrocity/Transcript

## Plot

The episode begins as the Americans and British listen to US Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower's speech as the invasion of Normandy, France begins on June 6, 1944. After the soldiers secured the beachhead after intense fighting, American and British forces began pouring into Europe. By late August 1944, Paris had been liberated and the 110th Platoon was reassigned to mainland Europe, continuing on their duties as they had in Africa. During this time, they would see for themselves the true horror of the war.

Throughout the ending months of 1944, the 110th Platoon bustled back and forth between the various positions. Soon, 1945 arrived. At this time, the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans' last ditch effort to turn the tide of the war had failed. Now they were truly facing defeat as the Allied forces (American and British troops) began closing in on Berlin. However, the Russians seemed more likely to breach the German capital first, much to the resentment of the American and British commanders.

One spring morning in March 1945, an American Lieutenant is complaining to two of his soldiers about how the Russians are going to be taking Berlin and not them, remarking "Better dead than red" before the Lieutenant orders the two soldiers to get back to work. Henry, Douglas and Lily had overheard their conversation. Lily and Douglas don't like the "better dead than red" comment and for the Russians to take all the credit for taking Berlin. Henry says he doesn't mind if the Russians do take Berlin first, because if both sides would get into a stalemate if both entered Berlin at the same time. Douglas thinks that both a divided Berlin and Germany is a perfect concept so they won't have to worry about the Germans starting another world war.

Later, Douglas and Lily talk to Thomas and Gordon about the matter. Thomas agrees with Douglas, as does Gordon, who points out that history could have happened differently if Germany had been divided, and explains an example with the Treaty of Versailles. Lily agrees with Gordon on this, and with possibly Henry too, over what he said about Berlin. Thomas assumes that would be if the fighting stops when Berlin is captured. He tells them about the Manhattan Project that the Americans are working on, which is a new sort of weapon that they would want to test. Presently, Edward arrives, who had been briefed by General Hammond, and he had told him that Allied forces have crossed the Rhine River into Germany - and the Platoon is going with them within two days. Edward says he was assured that they would only be acting in a supporting role, although the Germans might be thinking otherwise.

Two days later, the 110th Platoon is at Heldenbergen, not too far from Frankfurt. Lily remarks how sturdy the rails and Thomas jokingly warns her she might find herself on trial for treason if she praises the Germans too much. Presently, Adam tells Thomas and Douglas that their train is ready to go. Thomas and Douglas head off to take their train, but the minute they get moving, they hear sudden gunfire in the distance. Shells begin firing around the engines and soldiers as Edward orders the engines to retreat, while Thomas and Douglas lose their train as an artillery shell destroys part of it. Edward, Gordon, Henry and Lily reverse away while Thomas and Douglas are separated from their group.

That night, the four engines are at a medical battalion, humiliated by the ambush. Presently, Adam and Peter arrive, having evaded the ambush to take a detour back and had picked up a few survivors. Edward tells the two that Thomas and Douglas had been lost in ambush and can't search for them so soon after the attack. A counterattack is being organised and they will have to wait until tomorrow for the reinforcements to arrive.

Meanwhile, Thomas and Douglas have been on the move for several hours and have stopped in an unknown area. Both engines are exhausted and have been unable to contact the others on the radio. Suddenly, they hear a whistle from a German locomotive approaching. Thomas points over to a nearby factory where they could be safe, despite the risk of finding Germans. They hurry off the main line just as a DRG Class 01 steams by with a line of big rail guns. Thomas and Douglas stop next to a shed at the factory and to their luck, the factory seems deserted. Just then, they hear a faint hissing noise from inside the shed, which sounds like a steam engine. This hiss comes again, which sounds almost despairing. It came from a 1400 GWR Tank Engine named Oliver, with his brake van, Toad. They have run out of coal and steam. Thomas and Douglas are surprised to find Oliver, who is also surprised that they know him and he and Toad are delighted to have been sighted by them. Douglas also reminds them they still have to get back to their platoon. Thomas decides they should stay the night and keep trying to call the others on their radios and if they don't reply by morning, they'll make a break for it.

The next morning, the final preparations are being made for the counterattack. Lily grumbles about how long this is taking, though Edward tells her they'll have to take their time if they have any hope. Presently, the General has informed them that they have found Thomas and Douglas at a factory near Ulstime, and explains what they had found there and that Oliver is a radio-tapping engine, and explains what the engine does. He also tells them that Oliver and Toad had been cut off in the ambush the day before. The General instructs Edward, Henry and Lily to go get Thomas, Douglas, Oliver and Toad and the rest of the platoon will support the attack on Heldenbergen, which should provide a distraction for them to rescue the engines and brake van. The General also tells them that the radio operator who is working with Oliver and Toad is an old friend of his, who the Nor'Easters have had a history with.

Thomas and Douglas are furious to see Blair again and explains to Oliver the trouble Blair had caused on Sodor and Burke's sabotage. Blair then explains that he, Oliver and Toad have been monitoring Nazi transmissions for several months now, as he was a radio analyst during the First World War and was recalled to that post when this war began. They were tasked with tracking the Nazi's leadership and recently, they've been chasing one of their more vile members. Suddenly, they hear gunfire in the distance, which sounds like both sides and Blair goes over to check the radio to see what's going on. Douglas hopes their crew are putting the Germans through hell if it is their group.

It was their group, as they fought their way through the German defences. After Adam, Peter and Gordon destroy German Panzers in their way, Gordon informs Edward that the primary way is blocked, so Edward, Lily and Henry go along an alternate route. Presently, Blair has told the engines that the soldiers have launched an attack on Heldenbergen and the Germans are giving it all they've got to defend it. Blair also tells them that a gap has opened up in the lines and now is their only chance to make it out. Both Thomas and Douglas don't like their options but decide to make it back to their group. Thomas and Douglas pull Oliver and Toad backwards towards their crew, but as soon as they leave the vicinity of the factory, they're spotted by a tank engine. Thomas and Douglas now began moving as fast as they could and they soon find themselves being chased by two DRG Class 01 locomotives. Thomas and Douglas were going at full speed, but the German engines were catching up to them. Meanwhile, Henry, Edward and Lily have moved nearby and fired their gun at the German engines, destroying them. They then follow the wayward engines and brake van.

After they made it to their shed, General Hammond remarks how resourceful and sagacious Thomas and Douglas are. Oliver thanks Thomas and Douglas, as does Blair. Blair then remarks that now he knows why Mr. Star thought so highly of his engines. Thomas then jokingly warns Blair that he might start liking him. Blair then realises they have found the person at a facility called Bulbrick, but they don't know its exact location. Thomas is puzzled who they are talking about, and Blair tells them it's Josef Mengele, the Nazi's chief scientist. Oliver tells them that he helped liberate a few concentration camps where he served and the stories the prisoners told were very haunting. General Hammond then tells Thomas and Douglas that they have to be inspected for damage before they can return to active duty.

A short while later, workmen are cleaning out the debris from the battle when one suddenly finds a shell that hasn't exploded. The men clear out, as well as Lily and Peter. Henry tries to get out, but his safety valve bursts. Lily then moves out in front of Henry to protect him from the explosion.

Lily's brave action that day got her killed, but her sacrifice did allow Henry to survive, but the damage he suffered was too much for him to be repaired on the front lines so he was shipped back to Sodor, bringing word of Lily's passing with him. The remaining six engines didn't have time to mourn for Lily, as they soon learned that during the battle, more than 100 prisoners were taken with one of them who was a former guard at the Bulbrick concentration camp and he gave them the location of the facility and the engines quickly captured Bulbrick due to small resistance, but they couldn't find Mengele there.

At Bulbrick, Edward, Gordon and Adam are near the concentration camp. Adam points out the unusually high amount of track in the area. Gordon thinks that the place was originally a sawmill. Edward then reminds Gordon to take the liberated prisoners back to the 4077 once they're on board his train. He also instructs Adam to go to the eastern side of the camp and look inside that shed they haven't looked in yet.

Adam goes over to the eastern side of the camp and looks inside the shed - and is horrified from what is inside. His driver then goes over to vomit as Adam reverses away from the shed. Edward goes over to Adam and asks him what's wrong. The latter is unable to speak, and after having an outburst Edward then proceeded to look inside the shed, which he claims is the biggest mistake of his life. Subsequent interrogations of Bulbrick's staff revealed that the facility was originally a sawmill and it was converted into a concentration camp at Mengele's request. He then proceeded with his grotesque experiments on the poor prisoners to make use of its equipment. Adam and Edward were deemed traumatised by what they had seen. The entire platoon was rotated to rear-guard duty, returning to their base at Ostend, Belgium. The engines worked, far away from the front lines so they could forget.

A few days after they were reassigned, Adam's crew is having their therapy, while their engine had his that morning. Adam says the experiment is helping him a lot, and they say he needs to keep working. Peter has brought in a train of transfers from the front lines, mostly empty trucks and a couple of tanks that need repairs, with a coach near the end of the train. Peter tells that them the coach is filled of German Prisoners Of War and it was accidentally attached to his train which will be returned tomorrow. Thomas tells Peter Track 4 is clear and they'll be able to shunt the train later, as Thomas and Adam have lots of trucks to move first. Adam suggests to Thomas while he's moving the trucks, he can start on Peter's train. Adam says he won't run without his crew, who will be back in ten minutes. Adam tells him they'll put Peter's train away and will go over to help Thomas. Thomas agrees and will help out, as well as Peter, who goes to refuel. Thomas and Peter head off, and Adam, once the two engines are gone, goes over to the back of the train.

Later, the part with the coach had been removed from the train and Adam is shunting the back part of the train, with the coach in front, approaching the sea. Gordon sees Adam pass and Edward stops by just in time to hear a crash at where Adam had gone. Edward goes over to the source of the noise to find the coach gone and the buffers smashed. Douglas tells Edward that Adam had shunted the coach of German prisoners into the sea. Edward is livid with Adam, but can't find his voice when Adam asks him if he can say what he did was wrong.

Adam's actions caused a profound split among the Platoon and society. When the news reached the papers, equal numbers of voices called for Adam to be given a medal and to be charged with murder, respectively. Neither happened because the Platoon's superiors didn't want to incentivise killing prisoners, and there were no laws that could charge a non-faceless vehicle with murder at the time. Given who Adam had killed, the politicians weren't in a hurry to change that. No charges were laid down, but the army didn't trust the engines so their platoon was disbanded and they returned to Sodor to a hero's welcome. With their friends, they reacclimatised to civilian life to move on from the hardships of the Second World War which ended in Europe on May 8, 1945, and on September 2 of that year in the Pacific. The world was profoundly altered by the conflict. Great changes had been made and others were yet to come…

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* Douglas
* Oliver
* Peter
* Lily *(death)*
* Adam
* Toad
* Blair
* James *(cameo)*
* Percy *(cameo)*
* Toby *(cameo)*
* Donald *(cameo)*
* Eric *(cameo)*
* Diesel *(cameo)*
* Reginald *(cameo)*
* Matthew *(cameo)*
* Kate *(cameo)*
* Geoffrey *(cameo)*
* Stepney *(cameo)*
* Paul *(cameo)*
* Mr. Zorro *(cameo)*
* Duck *(mentioned)*
* Burke *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* This episode marks the final regular appearance of Lily.
* This episode also marks the first appearance of Paul, though he wouldn't be officially introduced until Extension.
* At 35:16, Atrocity is the longest episode of the entire series to date.
* This episode shows us the first time an engine purposely kills humans.
* The shed that both Adam and Edward looked in and made them traumatized seems similar to Paul Vid's infamous Thomas film 'Shed 17'. There is even a wooden sign in front of it that says "Shed 17" in German.
	+ Theories as to what they saw in the shed range from some of Josef Mengele's worst experiments, or an adaptation of Shed 17s "bio-fusion" concept.
* The events of this episode take place in the former half of 1945.
* The phrase "Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms,", which Gordon says to Lily, is from the American comedian Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers.
* The event from Escape are portrayed, the difference being that Thomas had also helped Oliver.