Indian troops of 9th Battalion 14th Punjab Regiment arrive at Kuching, capital of Sarawak, after a complex transshipping operation.

Indian troops board a small vessel, probably the Australian Army's AS 1785, a Seine net trawler, from the Doris (AV 2084, operated by the Royal Australian Engineers). Looking along the side of the AV 2084 as troops climb down nets from the SS Lake Charles Victory, the American Victory ship on which the troops had sailed from Saigon in French Indo-China. Looking up at troops climbing down the net which is made of chains with wooden rungs; the swell is apparent. The AS 1785 casts off to transfer troops to the Royal Navy River Class frigate HMS Nith (K215); as the boat moves off a number of Indian troops wave to the camera. Men stepping ashore from Japanese landing craft at Kuching. Men forming up on the quayside with Japanese troops nearby. The men board lorries. Local civilians watch the loaded lorries pass. More footage of troops descending nets. Soldiers and sailors on board HMS Nith as the cameraman's vessel casts off; the vessel's pennant number can be read on the side of the hull and there are troops on the forecastle. Looking down on AS 1785 from AV 2084. A cargo net of kit is lowered into the hold of AV 2084 through a hatch and a number of men guide it in.

Notes

The troops seen were redeployed to Sarawak in order to take over from Australian forces (hence the use of Australian boats) and had previously been in French Indo-China.

The dopesheet described in details the complicated process by which these troops were landed. The Lake Charles Victory was apparently too large and had too deep a draught to approach Kuching up the Sungei Sarawak (Sarawak River). The troops would have transferred directly to HMS Nith but the swell prevented the Nith from coming alongside. Instead, AV 2084 and AS 1785 came alongside, with troops climbing down first to the AV 2084 and then transferring to the AS 1785. The latter then transferred the troops to the Nith. Once full, the Nith sailed halfway to Kuching before unloading her troops to Japanese landing craft for transit to the quay. While this was going on the AV 2084 and AS 1785, also loaded with a full complement, made their own way to Kuching.

AV 2084 can be seen in Australian photographs, held by the Australian War Memorial, referenced below. According to the Australian War Memorial's captions AV 2084 was operated by 11 Small Ships Company, Royal Australian Engineers.

This operation is covered in stills held by the Imperial War Museum's Photograph Archive. See related items.

The coverage of this excessively complicated operation is perhaps unavoidably a bit incoherent, and this is worsened by the rolls having been compiled out of sequence. Though a difficult story to tell in film, some of the political complexity of post-war south east Asia is suggested, in that Indian troops are redeployed, via American and Australian shipping, from a French colony to a British Protectorate, and landed with the assistance of Japanese troops.