Reel 1: An RAF Douglas Dakota transport aircraft, KN459 'V', in flight. Landing at Don Muang airfield near Bangkok. The crew disemplane. Allied prisoners of war (POWs) awaiting transport. Japanese personnel. Released prisoners enjoying cigarettes and cigars. POWs boarding Dakota. Aircraft taxiing away. Soldiers smoking by a lorry. Lorries carrying POWs drive along a tree-lined road. POWs on the airfield. Shot of the Democracy Monument in Bangkok and the stately Assembly Building. Two Thai officers at the airfield. POWs boarding and unloading transport, and waiting by aircraft.

Reel 2: Japanese Lieutenant-General Takazo Numata, Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Count Terauchi, and Rear-Admiral Kaigye Chudo walk through a crowd of British servicemen before saluting Major-General Symes [this footage somewhat incongruous and probably reused from ABY 131]. Convoy of lorries with motorcycle outrider escort. Supplies unloaded from a Dakota. Crowds of Allied officers and men waiting by aircraft. A European woman. Dakota taking off. Medical supplies unloaded from Dakota. RAF and Army officers chatting. Supplies loaded onto a lorry; one of the crates is marked 'Mastiff'. Officers talking with a young Thai woman. A group of POWs enjoy a cup of tea; they laugh as they pour spirits into their mugs. A large building of mixed architecture. POWs walking towards camera. A European woman with a young boy. A man with a baby girl. A tram. A packet of cigarettes is passed round a group of POWs. Men leaving a Dakota. Men board an ambulance. Officers smoke cigarettes by a parked aircraft. A river, lined with trees, with small boats. A modern-looking city street in Bangkok. An archaic-looking crenellated lookout post. Sights in Bangkok, including the Grand Palace. POWs boarding lorry. POWs waiting by Dakota KN584. Men boarding ambulances. Officers and men talking. Men leave a large stone-built building.

After the surrender of Japan the Royal Air Force fly to Bangkok, Siam (Thailand), to recover Allied prisoners of war and internees.

Notes

'Mastiff' marking on a crate probably refers to Operation Mastiff, the effort to supply and evacuate Allied prisoners by air.

A number of Japanese personnel are seen in this film, some quite openly posing for the camera. Although Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945, Allied resouces were insufficient to intern the large numbers of Japanese troops still deployed throughout south east Asia. The soldiers seen here are therefore in the unusual position of having been defeated and yet remaining, if only temporarily, at liberty.

Dakota KN584 bears the word 'SNAKE' by its serial number. This reveals it had been delivered direct to South East Asia Command and was not, like much of the equipment in this region, a left-over from some other campaign in a different theatre.

Dopesheet provides useful narrative details of the shooting of this piece, and names two of the pilots as Group Captain Grandy (later Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Grandy and Chairman of the Trustees of the Imperial War Museum) and Wing Commander Pritchard.

Photographic coverage can be found at the references below.