British engineers and infantry of 2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers (29th Brigade, 36th Division) seen at work on the airstrip known as White City at Mawlu, Burma.

View across open ground with white smoke rising from a treeline; apparently a ranging shot by Chinese artillery against Japanese positions in the trees. Men at work clearing the ground and cutting grass by hand with machetes. A British sapper uses a Mk 3 mine detector. Close-up of the sapper shows his bush hat with 36th Division insignia (two overlapping rings) and the mine detector's headset. Men cutting grass with the engineer at work in the background. View of the strip. The edge of the strip is marked with pieces of cloth torn from parachutes and tied to small stakes. Close-up of the material being tied down. A man hammers in a stake using the back of an axe head. View of the strip now marked with cloth. A jeep passes laden with supplies. A sign reads 'White City (Caution) "Air Strip"'. Low fly-past by a United States Army Air Force Stinson L-5 Sentinel. Aerial view of the strip with dust rising from a road; the strip and its white markers can be clearly seen. View down the strip as an L-5 takes off towards camera. Brief shot of 29th Brigade headquarters, apparently built on the same site used by Brigadier Calvert for 77th Brigade HQ during Operation Thursday, the airborne invasion of Burma by the Chindits.

Notes

The position known as 'White City', near the village of Henu north of Mawlu, was originally a block on the railway line to Myitkyina and intended to cut off supplies to Japanese forces in Northern Burma. This positon had been the site of fierce fighting in March 1944 and derived its name from the profusion of supply parachutes that blanketed the site.