Escape from the Nazi Stronghold

EVENT
Escape from the Nazi Stronghold
Conflict	World War II
Date	1944
Location	France French Alps
Faction(s)	Nazis
Participants	Indiana Jones Staff Car Officer Secondary Staff Car Officer Motorbike & Sidecar 1 Driver Motorbike & Sidecar 1 Gunner Motorbike & Sidecar 2 Driver Motorbike & Sidecar 2 Gunner
Outcome	Jones successfully escaped and halted the Nazi loot train.

The Escape from the Nazi Stronghold occurred in 1944 when the American spy, revealed to be archaeologist Indiana Jones, narrowly broke free from a lynching attempt by the SS.

He then pursued a Nazi plunder train fleeing back to Berlin, initially to recover the Lance of Longinus being carried on board but the mission escalated into an effort to rescue the captive Basil Shaw and halt the transport of entire carriages of looted antiquities.

Event chronology

After escaping from a lynching attempt by the Schutzstaffel (SS) at an occupied castle in eastern France, the American archaeologist Indiana Jones knocked out the driver of a military staff car in the courtyard of the stronghold and hijacked it. However, two high-ranking SS officers unexpectedly entered the rear of the vehicle ready for evacuation from Allied bombardment. The staff car was escorted by a pair of motorcycle sidecars, one of which signaled the driver through headlight flashes unaware that control of the vehicle had been commandeered by an enemy agent. Once departed and leaving the engulfed castle behind to Allied , the small convoy headed south through the French countryside.

As the two escorting motorcycle sidecars pulled ahead, Jones made a sharp maneuver, pulling away and accelerated down a different road. Caught off guard, the two motorcycle followed suit down a steep grassy embankment to catch up. With the nature of the threat unknown, a confused soldier in one of the motorcycles signaled Jones to stop the vehicle. In response, Jones furiously turned the steering wheel, crushing one of the motorbike and sidecars in-between the staff car and the mountain side making it flip, destroying the vehicle. When the remaining escort caught up, the soldier in the sidecar aimed his pistol directly at Jones. The archaeologist thought fast by jamming his stolen helmet between the pedals, ensuring that the staff car would continue to accelerate, swung open the door, knocking the firearm out the soldier's hand then leapt onto the sidecar. A brawl with the soldier ultimately ending with Jones dumping him under the wheels of the driverless staff car lost control, ran over a set of rocks which struck the gasoline tank under the vehicle and causing it to overturn and explode, taking both Nazi officers in the rear with it.

The last remaining vehicle of the escorting party remained unguided as Jones and the driver fought as the bike plummeted at full speed down another embankment towards the recently departed Nazi loot train carrying the Lance of Longinus which the archaeologist was pursuing. Jones managed to fight his way into the driver's side, and his opponent reacted buy taking control of the MG-42 mounted on the sidecar and wildly sprayed bullets. Jones was able to to grab the barrel and dislodge the machine gun from the vehicle then disposed of the sidecar section of the bike by aiming it at a tree he'd spotted: the resulting collision violently uncoupled and removed the sidecar along with its unwanted Nazi passenger. With the vehicle weighing significantly less, Jones caught up with the train, climbed on board, ditching the motorbike in the process, then went after the relic carried on board.

In 1944, the American archaeologist Indiana Jones boarded the rear weaponry car of the train via motorcycle after a successful escape attempt from the nearby Nazi Stronghold. He infiltrated various carriages attempting to find the Spear of Longinus (unbeknownst to him that it was a fifty year old reproduction). After discovering this, and alerting the Wehrmacht, he now proceeded through the carriages in an attempt to survive the chasing soldiers. He did this by blending in with troops who weren't yet alerted of the situation in the dining car, and advancing once the response force had past. As he progressed he found his restrained colleague Basil Shaw whom he rescued, Basil in this moment discovering half a section of the Antikythera which he takes. Advancing on the train they came across the other one of the two weaponry cars, which was subsequently hit by a bomb presumably by the RAF which didn't destroy it outright, but rather ruined its rotary system. This caused it to fire on the train itself, hitting the other carriages as the train raced around a mountain edge corner. This leaded it to killing many of the pursuing soldiers therefore benefiting Jones and Basil.

After the pursuing forces were dealt with, they ended up on the roof of one of the carriages, and a brawl broke out with the American archaeologist and a Nazi SS Officer (Colonel Weber). What followed was a equally skilled fight between the two, including a section from within a tunnel, where Jones was pushed against the roof of it, his leather jacket most likely saving his life as it scraped against the jagged edges. As the Nazi slowly began to get the upper-hand, Jones managed to unholster the officers weapon, but then lose it to the perpetrator, though striking back by disarming him with his trusty bullwhip. Jones kicks the pistol, causing it to slide across the roof, Basil ends up shooting the Officer, but not before he shot and grazed Indy in the shoulder on the first attempt. Jones finished him off by kicking him in the chest off the carriage roof, and subsequently off the mountain pass edge.

Just when they thought it was over Doctor Jürgen Voller holds Indy at gunpoint asking for him to return the half section of the Antikythera, Jones chucks a bag which didn't contain the section and out of nowhere Basil screams, warning the archaeologist of an upcoming water tower with its hose sticking out. Jones jumps in the very last second, narrowly avoiding the object, however it smacks Voller straight in the head, launching him off the train.

With danger seemingly avoided, an RAF Mosquito began a dive in order to bomb the upcoming bridge, the pair attempt to make themselves noticeable, and warn off the incoming allied fighter but it is to no prevail as the bomb hits its target, destroying a section of the structure. Jones and Basil jump off the roof, landing into a river below the bridge just before the train meets the destroyed section, ultimately wrecking 528079. Some time later when Jones and Shaw walk under the bridge, British soldiers capture the remains of the train.

Chase participants

The following is the configuration of the escort as seen at the very beginning of the escape.

• Staff Car (Destroyed outright)
  • Indiana Jones (Survived)
  • Staff Car Officer (Killed)
  • Secondary Staff Car Officer (Killed)
• Motorbike & Sidecar 1 (Major damage sustained)
  • Motorbike & Sidecar 1 Driver (Killed)
  • Motorbike & Sidecar 1 machine-gunner (Killed)
• Motorbike & Sidecar 2 (Sidecar outright destroyed, Motorcycle heavily damaged)
  • Motorbike & Sidecar 2 Driver (Killed)
  • Motorbike & Sidecar 2 machine-gunner (Killed)

Behind the scenes

The Escape from the Nazi Stronghold is the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. It marks a return to form of the Indiana Jones franchise, featuring an otherwise unrelated introductory sequence akin to those of the first three films, instead of beginning the plot right from the opening like in the fourth film.

The sequence involved the de-aging of Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford in service to an opening sequence that would remind people to the original Indiana Jones trilogy-era, for which new Industrial Light & Magic software and archive material from a younger Ford were employed. Jürgen Voller actor Mads Mikkelsen was similarly de-aged, albeit through a different method. Speculation on such a sequence emerged in June 2021, when a difficult motorcycle stunt, filmed on the same stretch of track used for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One during its suspended filming, was spotted as being shot with a stuntman wearing a mask, which often came away, in the shape of Ford's younger likeness. To achieve the de-aged effect, archive footage from all of Ford's previous Lucasfilm Ltd. projects was scoured by an artificial intelligence program. Ford himself was impressed with the "scientific mining of the company's library", though it didn't make him feel any nostalgia for his youth, being content with his older age. Producer Kathleen Kennedy hoped that it would "trick" the audiences into believing the sequence had been shot years ago.

The seeds for what became the Escape from the Nazi Stronghold with a de-aged Indy's involvement during World War II originated from original Indiana Jones director Steven Spielberg and writer David Koepp around mid-2019, although Spielberg had been previously quoted by Daily News in 2012 as refusing to use the motion-capture technology he used for his The Adventures of Tintin film a year ago to "youngify" Ford, adamant that he would play the part with whatever age he had. Spielberg and Koepp had devised the sequence to last five minutes, which Dial of Destiny director James Mangold expanded to twenty-five minutes after hearing Ford's concerns about the sequence while they worked on reshoots for The Call of the Wild. Though Ford was worried about disappointing the audience with the sequence due to his older age for the main plot, Mangold thought it was a brilliant way to remind them of how the character was no longer the same individual that had "embodied" the 1930s and '40s.

Despite a specific track for this scene being named "Germany, 1944", context clues suggest that the scene actually takes place in France.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny