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Some of ten aircraft strafed a personnel train heading to Pisek near the RR station of Cervena nad Vltavou at 10.30 a.m. on April 24, 1945. Despite the fact the train stopped immediately and passengers and the staff got out to protect from being hit by machine gun seven people were killed (including two German soldiers) and 22 others (including six soldiers) suffered wounds. Two local police officers were present so that first-hand account could be written down. The locomotive was, of course, shot up and not able to move further and all eleven cars were damaged. First aid was provided on the spot and then they were taken to the hospital in Pisek.
As there was no other accident of similar circumstances reported on that day one can be fairly sure that attackers were pilots of the 397th Squadron of the 368th Fighter Group, who dropped bombs on the town of Tabor before, even though their description is different little bit (but it was obviously common when one compares Czech and American archival sources) and no particular coordinates were given: "They also strafed a troop train of 5 cars slightly west of the M/Y (i.e. Tabor), damaged all of the cars and killing or wounding about 100 personnel as they left the train." Cervena nad Vltavou is located 20 miles south-west of Tabor.
Sources:
Air Force Historical Research Agency, 368th Fighter Group – 397th Fighter Squadron, Ops. Rep. – Sq. mission 544 – April 24, 1945 (courtesy of Tim Grace)
Národní archiv, Zemské četnické velitelství Praha, karton. č. 904, inv. č. 7389/45
























