Variety of scenes of an advance by 5th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division, near Mount Popa (approximately 40 miles west of Meiktila, Burma) showing artillery fire, airstrikes, a field church service and surrendered Japanese Indian Forces.

Troops of 2nd Battalion the Dorsetshire Regiment advance along a dusty road with Mount Popa rising in the distance. A jeep and an armoured ambulance pass. A seven-man section files past camera. More men file past. A unit of 2nd Division signallers carrying out line maintenance during a dust storm. Some of the approximately 300 Japanese Indian Forces of the 2nd Division of the Indian National Army who surrendered following the bombardment of Mount Popa. Rations are distributed to them. A pile of surrendered arms; INA men add their own weapons to the pile. Close-ups of the weapons show that the pile includes a Lewis light machine gun with drum magazine, a No.36 Mills grenade, and a number of cartons of 0.303-calibre ammunition. Close-up of a cardboard box of small arms ammunition with 'Made in the USA' and date of manufacture (December 1940) both legible. Close-up of a Sikh member of the INA. Close-up of a Gurkha (apparently part of the pre-war expatriate Gurkha community in Burma, rather than a former prisoner of war). Two friends, apparently both Gurkhas. An intelligence officer, Lieutenant Balliant, interrogates INA officers and non-commissioned officers. An Ordnance QF 25-pounder field gun being loaded and fired with Mount Popa in the distance. An Ordnance BL 6-inch howitzer is manhandled by a team of gunners before being hitched to a lorry (probably a Mack 6x4 artillery tractor) for transport. Mobile footage from a jeep following behind the lorry and howitzer. The arid and dusty conditions are obvious. Airstrikes; clouds of dust and smoke rise in the distance. An RAF Republic Thunderbolt fighter-bomber strafes an enemy target with its machine guns; gunsmoke from its wing guns can be seen. Brigadier Alston-Roberts-West, commanding 5th Infantry Brigade, and Lieutenant-Colonel Irvine of 7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, studying a map. Portrait of Brigadier Alston-Roberts-West with his face heavily shadowed by his bush hat. A Presbyterian church service in progress less than 6 miles from the frontline. Shots of the priest (named as Captain Andrew Heatlie (Royal Army Chaplains' Department) of Edinburgh), congregation and a pianist, James Newton, from the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). More airstrike footage; bombs dropping and good views of Thunderbolts strafing at low altitude. Their machine guns can be seen firing and streaks of dust are kicked up in the target area. Alston-Roberts-West and Irvine watch the Thunderbolts at work.

Notes

A varied film illustrating a number of different aspects of the war in Burma.

Dopesheet describes a final reel of film showing 25-pounders firing at night, but this does not appear to have survived.

The Indian National Army were a Japanese auxiliary force largely recruited from Indian troops captured during and since the fall of Singapore in 1942. Intended as a propaganda tool to undermine the Indian Army as much as a military force, the INA proved to be unreliable in combat and was relegated to second-line duties. They offered little resistance during 14th Army's reoccupation of Burma and upon surrendering were often treated with greater disdain by Indian troops than by the British. The INA's role in Indian independence has been and remains contentious. Other film of captured INA troops can be seen at the reference below. See related items.

Mount Popa is an extinct volcano at the northern end of the Pegu Yomas (mountain range) that reaches almost 5,000 feet above sea level and 2,500 feet above the surrounding plain. It has great cultural significance, being said to be the home of a number of powerful spirit deities. In military terms it offered a superb observation point with views in all directions and was strongly garrisoned. The Japanese lacked the manpower or firepower necessary to turn it into a real bastion, however, and it was cleared by two battalions of 268th Brigade by 19 April 1945.