West African Engineers construct a ferry over the Kalapanzin River in the Arakan region of Burma.

African troops of 82nd West African resting in long grass. A damaged building in Buthidaung. Parked lorries laden with assault boats. A bulldozer at work preparing a slipway. Activity by the riverside; a couple of West African soldiers board a boat. A number of men carrying a large bundle of rope. Two men carrying wooden beams. A riverside jetty with a number of soldiers. Two West African Engineers in the water assembling a ferry from a number of Bailey bridging sections. Laying planking on the ferry. Wide shot showing the ferry, the river and a number of men. West Africans cooking and eating from their mess tins.

Notes

The dopesheet for this film is marked 'undecipherable', presumably by an editor or censor with a short attention span. While blurred, it is still legible, and describes how the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road terminates at the Kalapanzin River. It goes on to add that while men could be ferried across in boats, the movement of motor transport and tanks required the construction of the ferry seen in this film. The cameraman had hoped to film the operation of the ferry, but its completion was delayed by difficulties including the tidal nature of the river, and sporadic Japanese mortar fire.

Logistical difficulties were particularly acute in the Arakan, and the opening of the Kalapanzin to inland water transport was a considerable relief of pressure.