Scenes on the road lines of communication from Dimapur, India, to Kalewa, Burma.

Aerial footage of the road in mountainous terrain between Palel and Traffic Control Post (TCP) 16; the road is visible as a bright line against the thickly-wooded hillsides. A sign reads 'TCP 11' and both painted in white letters and marked with reflective panels. The side of a lorry is marked 'Tuning Team' with an image of a spark plug. A sign reads 'IEME [Indian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers] Engine Tuning Team'. A sign reads 'TCP 8' and is marked with the sword badge of 14th Army. A military policeman passes. A lorry passes signs which read 'Naboth's Vineyard', '999 Work Shops' and 'Q In'. Local Naga people breaking stones for use in roadbuilding; each sits on the ground holding a stone between their feet and hits it with a hammer. Several close-ups on the Nagas. At a junction a sign points the way to Kohima in one direction and to Mao and Imphal in the opposite direction. A small hut marked 'TCP 5'. A sign reads 'TCP 12'. Scenes from a local bazaar at Palel with Manipuri women tending stalls. Two Sikh drivers eating and drinking with close-ups. Two Sikh drivers, each with a Lee-Enfield rifle, chatting. At Mao, a Naga village on the Indo-Burma border, an inscribed stone stands between two boulders. The inscribed stone reads 'In memory of my late husband / Chape Athisho / These two stones left and right were erected in 1908 - 32 by us according to Mao-Naga custom spending Rs [Rupees] 2117/- to feed the villagers. / His faithful wife / K Chisha Mao'. A lorry passes a large mound at Mao, probably the site of the stones just mentioned. Reverse angle shows a sign which reads 'TCP 7'. Another sign reads 'Dead Man's Gulch'. Sign for TCP 6. Interesting shot looking into a lorry's wing mirror; the image in the mirror is out of focus but the passing background is sharp. A Chevrolet CMP lorry drives towards camera. Two Sikh drivers tie down their turbans against dust. A faintly comic shot shows two Sikhs seated in the cab of a lorry as seen from directly in front (the cameraman possibly standing on the vehicle's bumper). The 'driver' turns the wheel left and right and the cab appears to sway from side to side, probably as a couple of 'stage hands' rock the lorry back and forth. Close-ups of the drivers, some very close. A sign reads 'TCP 15 - Assistance Telephone Information'. Terrain views showing cloud covering the hills. A sign reads 'TCP 16 - Information Assistance Telephone'. More views of cloudy terrain. A signpost gives distances to Imphal, Palel and Moreh in one direction (70, 42 and 1 mile(s) respectively) and Kalewa and Indaingi (probably 'Indainggyi', Sagaing Divison) in another (102 and 80 miles). Vehicles on a dusty road; each emerges from a cloud of dust kicked up by the vehicle in front. Vehicles passing dilapidated bamboo and thatch huts. A lorry drives through a large puddle next to a sign that reads 'TCP 20'. A sign with an image of a gearstick reads 'Low Gear' and below it 'Pahle Gear'. Final sign reads 'TCP 26'.

Notes

Dimapur was the railhead for the movement of supplies into Burma. This particular route ran from Dimapur, via Kohima and Imphal to Tamu and on to Kalewa, where a river port and dockyard was organised and supplies could be sent along the River Chindwin by barge or boat. The operation of the dockyard at Kalewa can be seen in JFU 198, referenced below.

While the constant shots of signs make this film rather repetitive, the fact that Traffic Control Posts were placed at 10 mile intervals allows the locations seen in this film to be identified with a fair degree of precision.

The Naga people are a distinct ethnic group of somewhat unclear ancestry but possibly mixed Mongol and Tibeto-Burmese. They live mostly on the Indo-Burma border in the Indian states of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland and on the border areas of Burma's Sagaing Division. While in this film they are seen doing rather menial labour, in other material shot by the British Army we see them doing sophisticated work as vehicle mechanics. Some aspects of the Naga experience of the war was fairly well documented and can be found at the references below. See related items.

With Burma's general scarcity of roads and the very limited number of land routes from India into Burma, the efficient management of these road communications was vital to the maintenance of forces in the field. For detailed information on these communications, see the catalogue entry for JFU 225, referenced below.