1,403 freed Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees board the RMS Orbita at Rangoon, Burma, for repatriation, and are visited onboard by Lieutenant-General Sir Montagu Stopford, commander of 12th Army.

Freed Allied prisoners and motor transport. Ex-prisoners queue for tea at a Women's Auxiliary Service (Burma) (WAS(B)) canteen. Men with kitbags walk along a jetty to a waiting barge for transport to the ship. Smiling men aboard the barge. Drawing alongside RMS Orbita. Men climb a gangway staircase. Closer shot. Looking down on the barge with men coming up the stairs from a landing stage. Men step aboard and each is handed a deck allocation ticket by a steward. Civilian ex-internees come aboard; the first is a woman with two small children, followed by a man in service dress carrying a child and others. Closer shot of servicemen reaching the top of the stairs. Lieutenant-General Stopford comes aboard and salutes naval officers. He inspects men, wearing their lifebelts, at a boat station during a drill. He meets civilian internees.

Notes

Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945 the Allies set about recovering the many thousands of internees and prisoners of war scattered across south east Asia. The dopesheet describes these 1,403 individuals as 'the last batch' but does not say from what area they were recovered.

Stopford had been a highly successful corps commander during the war and was appointed to command the Burma garrison in the shape of the recently-formed 12th Army.