Part 1, shot by Sergeant Sanders: View from a landing craft with the Singapore skyline on the horizon and Landing Craft Medium LCM 4038 directly ahead. Indian troops. Wide view of prisoner of war camp with group shots and close-ups of British, Australian and Dutch prisoners. More views from a landing craft heading for Singapore. Mobile shot from a jeep driving along a Singapore street with civilians standing at the roadside. A welcome banner hangs from (telephone or electricity?) cables above the street. Column of British and Indian troops marching. A group of Japanese prisoners of war is guarded by a number of Indian troops. Waving civilians at the roadside as lorry loads of Indian troops drive through the streets; Chinese flags are in evidence.

Part 2, shot by Sergeant MacTavish: Views of the London Class cruiser HMS Sussex (flagship of Rear Admiral Cedric Holland, leading the convoy to Singapore). Other ships on the horizon in overcast conditions. Red Ensign flying from a mast. One of the convoy's destroyer escorts. Soldiers descending a rope ladder into a Landing Craft Medium from the troopship HMT Devonshire. The landing craft motors away with the cameraman onboard. Landing craft heading ashore. Looking down into a landing craft with troops coming down a gangway staircase. A cine cameraman (Sergeant Sanders?) films proceedings. Singapore skyline and a view of an escorting warship, probably a Dido Class cruiser. Freed prisoners of war cheering at the gates to a prison camp. Close-ups of the prisoners. View from jeep driving through the streets; some taken with a longer lens and giving a slightly excessive sense of speed.

Footage of 5th Indian Division's landing at Singapore in September 1945 including views of warships, liberated Allied prisoners of war and welcoming crowds.

Notes

Singapore had been the centrepiece of British prestige and security in South East Asia and its loss in 1942 delivered a fatal blow to British imperial credibility. The commander of this Division was Eric Mansergh, and the Museum's Department of Documents holds a collection of documents relating to his service in South East Asia and elsewhere. See related items.

These operations were also extensively covered by Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Indian Army cameramen. See related items.