A mortar battery of 56th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, along with tanks and aircraft, supports an attack on Kennedy Peak, Burma, by 5th Indian Division.

Ordnance ML 3-inch mortars of 351st Anti-Tank Battery, 56th Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery, are fired at low angles against a Japanese strong point. Signallers at a wireless set. Close-up of Lieutenant W T Bell (?) of Belfast, the officer commanding, giving the order to fire. Close-up of signallers. Two RAF Hawker Hurricane fighter-bombers overhead and bombing a ridge. A Lee medium tank, some distance away along a road, fires its 75mm gun and the casing is discarded from a small hatch. A destroyed Japanese tank (probably Type 97 Chi-Ha) with a series of close-ups on various parts. View of the towering Kennedy Peak and aircraft overhead. Men are served food; the man nearest camera wears an AFPU (Army Film and Photo Unit) shoulder flash. Small tents with clothing hung out to dry. More footage of mortars in action.

Notes

Operations around Kennedy Peak, and by 56th Anti-Tank Regiment, were well covered by Sergeant Taylor and Sergeant Hewit. See related items. The AFPU man seen in this film is possibly Sergeant Hewit.

Dopesheet gives the unit as 123rd Brigade, 5th Indian Division. Kennedy Peak was the highest point on the Tiddim-Kalemyo road (at 8,871 feet) and a formidable obstacle. The day before this film was shot the Peak was heavily bombarded by air and artillery units and the Japanese began withdrawing south towards Fort White on 3 November. The Peak was occupied on the 4th.