General Thomas Wynford Rees, commander of 19th Indian Division, and General Montagu Stopford, commander of XXXIII Indian Corps, visit Pagoda Hill, overlooking Mandalay, Burma.

Rees and Stopford on the summit of Pagoda Hill (AKA Monastery Hill or Mandalay Hill) looking over Mandalay. Stopford wears the XXXIII Indian Corps badge of a crossed sword and trident with wings. The generals walk around the pagoda with a group of other officers. A thick column of smoke rises from a fierce fire. A group of soldiers (apparently men who participated in the capture of this feature) walk along a balcony. General Rees uses a telephone. A burning building. Views over Fort Dufferin with a pall of smoke. Panning shot across Mandalay. Pagodas in the city. A view of the monastery on top of Pagoda Hill. A fighter aircraft overhead is obscured by smoke. A deserted street. Two soldiers walking along an empty steet. Several buildings reduced to piles of rubble and twisted metal. View through a set of metal gates. An RAF Douglas Dakota transport aircraft flying at low altitude drops supplies without parachutes, possibly sacks of rice or other food. Other aircraft drop supplies by parachute. Shots of a damaged but nonetheless very thick brick wall. Jeeps crossing a bridge with soldiers on foot. An Indian Sikh soldier climbs a flagpole to unfurl a Union flag. Bomb damage to the walls of the fort. An RAF Republic Thunderbolt fighter aircraft makes a bombing attack against the walls of the fort. The wall suddenly erupts in dust and smoke. More views of the fort. A Hawker Hurricane attacks. Several jeeps parked inside the fort. Jeeps passing through gates. Some rather murky and indistinct footage of the fort under air attack. Thunderbolts bombing with explosions. Series of explosions along the wall. A drifting cloud of dust. More fighter attacks and billowing dust.

Notes

The bombing of Fort Dufferin and related operations for the capture of Mandalay were extensively covered by British Army cameramen. See reference below.

Stopford incorrectly named 'Stockford' on dopesheet.

No slates, date from dopesheet. Shooting date likely to be perhaps a week earlier.

The cameraman of this piece, Flight Lieutenant Sidney Woodcock, was killed in action. He and his pilot, Flight Lieutenant J G Buchanan of RAF 110 Squadron, failed to return after a Mosquito sortie over Rangoon on 2 May 1945. They are buried in adjacent plots in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Rangoon War Cemetery.