I. 'INDIA.' Indian pilgrims mingle with street traders near the castellated portals of the town of Ajmer in Rajasthan State in India during a pilgrimage in honour of Dargah Sharif. Pilgrims flock into a mosque and are shown at prayer. Pilgrims overlook vast sunken cauldrons in which donated food (Sherni ?) is cooked and blessed prior to distribution. Large numbers of Moslem pilgrims carrying buckets congregate around the cauldrons as the food is given out.

II. 'NEW GUINEA.' Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) officers consult wall charts and maps prior to a sortie against Japanese positions in New Guinea. RAAF ground crews transport 250-lb bombs by trolley. Pilot Officer A H Spooner and other RAAF pilots walk to their Bristol Beaufighter (Mk VIC ?) aircraft at an undisclosed airfield location (Port Moresby ?). Stock shots show a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber and a Beaufighter making low-level passes to camera. Air to air footage shows RAAF Beaufighters in flight. A B-25 Mitchell bomber flies low over the jungle canopy and crosses the coast. Beaufighters fly low and fast over the jungle climbing and banking to follow the contours of the landscape. Camera gun footage shows the ferocity of a Beaufighter cannon attack on river craft and Japanese jungle encampments (Malabang ?). Air to ground footage shows a heavily bomb-cratered Japanese landing strip with a wrecked Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero-Sen fighter aircraft parked by the runway.

III. 'AUSTRALIA.' Australian civilians and off-duty troops enjoy a cowboy style rodeo held in Queensland. An Australian cattle drover dressed in a Roman style toga, drives a chariot pulled by a bull across the rodeo enclosure to the amusement of the watching crowds. Australian infantrymen take part in a dangerous bull riding competition. A bull throws his rider and charges the crowd, two spectators are knocked to the floor and trampled by the irritated animal.

IV. 'SICILY.' British soft-skinned vehicles and motor-cycle outriders pass through a small Sicilian town (Militello ?) during their drive on Messina. British military policemen oversee the handing in of civilian-held private fire arms, the haul includes single-shot hunting rifles and double-barrelled shotguns. Elderly Sicilian civilians queue for the distribution of food, the process is overseen by British military policemen armed with Thompson M1A1 .45-in sub-machine guns. Italian Navy and Army prisoners of war are marched through the streets of Syracuse under British armed guard. Canadian soft-skinned vehicles raise dust as they drive along winding Sicilian roads through rugged and mountainous terrain. A bare chested Canadian infantryman operates a mobile field radio at a makeshift communications centre. Canadian Ordnance QF 25-pounder field guns on 25/18 carriages fire on a distant enemy held mountain ridge-line. Lieutenant-General George Patton, Commander of the US 7th Army meets General Bernard Law Montgomery and General Harold R L G Alexander. Patton and Montgomery chat informally and pose for photographs.

Notes

technical: Although the film is mute, a printed version of the commentary is held by the Film and Video Archive