Us Official Photographs

Axis Casey Jones at Poix

ATTACK ON POIX RAILROAD VIADUCT - France. An Army Air Forces officer tells the story of this photo with a sad ballad of an Axis "Casey Jones": We're a-goin' to tell you, in explosive tones, An Axis version of "Casey Jones," On the fourteenth of January, '44, A train crew learned about the B-24. The engineer mounted to the cabin, Amiens to Rouen, orders in his hand, The engineer mounted to the cabin, Took a farewell trip to the promised land. At 20 miles an hour, comin' round the bend, The train steamed on to its journey's end, Just north of Poix, as on it sped, There were five big bombers overhead. Smack on the viaduct, nom du nom! The train was a-facin' a quarter-ton bomb, It was only one of a hundred and eight That fell without warning around that freight. Those bombs were precisely on the beam And then the brakes began to scream, The engineer shuddered, the fireman, too, Even the whistle blew "Sacre bleu!" The engineer can't turn and go back, If he stops too soon he will jump the track, And look at those bomb bursts up ahead, If he doesn't think fast they will all be dead. Subsequent reconnaissance did not reveal the fate of the train, although it was definitely known that the viaduct was squarely hit. The Air Force poet wrote finis to the incident with this couplet: You can have good brakes and lots of traction, But a train can't take evasive action.