With the surrender of Japan, troops of 23rd Indian Division mount an amphibious landing near Port Dickson on the Malayan coast, as part of Operation Zipper.

Landing craft coming ashore with Landing Craft Assault (LCA) 1855 nearest camera. Men stepping off the ramps of LCAs, some unsteadily; one man loses his footing and falls into the water. Men leaving the beach. File of men walking through palm trees with low buildings in the background. A British signaller, possibly of the Royal Navy, wearing a headset. Man with a large flag on the beach; camera pans to show landing craft coming ashore. Pan along the horizon with silhouettes of various ships and landing craft visible. Man waving flag. A man's head poking out through a hatch on a tracked amphibious vehicle, probably a Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) Buffalo. The Buffalo drives past camera and off the beach. Another amphibious vehicle, possibly an American M29 Water Weasel, drives along the beach past camera; it has an image of a horned devil on its nose. Men walk past a parked DUKW amphibian. A bulldozer tows a bogged Chevrolet CMP lorry along the beach. Pan right showing vehicles on the beached Landing Ship Tank 3008 with 3007 behind. Indian Engineers hammering stakes into the ground and laying wire mesh in an effort to improve the surface. Stores are unloaded by hand from an LCA. A group of British men, stripped to the waist, walk out of the sea; one of them carries a small dog. The dog paddling in the water. A large group of men pushing a bogged down CMP lorry with a bulldozer towing. CMPs drive out of an LST; the men stand ready to push them before they can become bogged. Men on deck of LST 3007. LCAs coming ashore. Men walking off the beach. Men stepping off LCA 180. A Royal Navy signaller, wearing a Commando patch, uses an Aldis signalling lamp. Wider shot shows the signaller shining the Aldis lamp directly into camera while a wireless operator sits by a tree nearby. A group of men standing in the water stick a long pole with a marker flag into the seabed. Men bailing out an LCA. Royal Navy Commando signalling by semaphore. 6x4 lorry on the ramp of an LST. A LST driving ashore with its bow doors open. A bulldozer tears a branch off a tree. 6x4 lorry coming ashore. DUKWs reverse off an LST. A Landing Craft Infantry (Large) (LCI(L)) berthing at a jetty at Port Dickson. British troops (possibly 1st Battalion Seaforth Highlanders) disembark along gangplanks. Troops march off along the quayside. A British lieutenant-colonel of 23rd Indian Division (fighting cock insignia) speaks with a British brigadier wearing an unidentified triangular patch on his upper arm (dark background with lighter design in centre). A White Ensign being raised. Sikh troops entering the town at Port Dickson and being cheered by the locals. They pass under an arch decorated with Allied flags. Footage from a Stinson L5 observation aircraft showing various landing craft and amphibians, motor transport and men. View of the invasion fleet at sea and of LSTs. Infantry disembarking by gangplank, probably at Port Dickson, and marching along the quay. View from a landing craft passing LCI(L) 183. View from the bow. More aerial footage of the invasion fleet at sea.

Notes

A good film with a variety of coverage. It makes clear the difficulties that were encountered in trying to unload vehicles on sand that proved too soft to take their weight, and some of the aerial footage illustrates well the congestion on the beaches.

Operation Zipper was to be an opposed amphibious invasion. With the surrender of Japan it was decided to implement the operation, minus its covering bombardment, as the fastest way of deploying troops to Malaya.

For footage of 25th Indian Division's landing at Morib, see related items.