At the villages of Manong and Bekor near Kuala Kangsar in Perak, Malaya, troops of 25th Indian Division round up suspected bandits.

Dark shot showing a soldier walking down a road towards the village of Manong with villagers lined up on the road in the background. A shot, very dark apart from one frame showing a sign reading Watthong (?) Omnibus Company Ltd showing the times for buses from Manong to Kuala Kangsar. Villagers on parade on the road. Villagers, Indian soldiers of the Kumaon Rifles, British officers and local interpreters. A British officer with 25th Indian Division, possibly the brigade intelligence officer of 53rd Indian Infantry Brigade, Captain P Hirbage, speaks with an interpreter over papers in a wooden cart. A man is walked down the line with an interpreter. The man is questioned by a British officer. Line of villagers squatting on ground; another squats on the other side of the road with an Indian soldier standing over him. Identity parade (?); a man is removed from the line and a man walks along the line with the British officers. Another man is removed from the line. Another discussion by the wooden cart. Group of civilian men, presumably suspects removed from the line with Indian soldier standing over. A wooden building on stilts is circled by troops and the occupants ordered out. Shirtless man stands outside his house, a woman on the steps is gestured to to go back inside. Troops accompanied by interpreters escort civilian suspects into the jungle. Village of Bekor ; a soldier leads a line of civilian (supects?) with officers behind. Group of troops and suspects in the jungle near Bekor. A man with a pick or hoe is lowered into a pit on a rope. Dark shot, hard to make out, looking into the pit. A groundsheet laid out; human bones are thrown onto it. Unclear shot in poor jungle light. Troops and suspects sitting in the jungle.

Notes

Though some of the shots in this piece are too dark to use, and the action is sometimes difficult to follow, this is still a useful illustration of counter-bandit operations in post-war Malaya.

The dopesheet identifies the Indian troops as being of the Kumaon Rifles and identifies the 53rd Indian Infantry Brigade of 25th Indian Division. This is probably a reference to 4th Battalion, 18th Royal Garhwal Rifles, which had been 1st Battalion Kumaon Rifles earlier in its regimental history. The question is complicated somewhat by the 19th Hyderabad Regiment (also in 25th Indian Division, though in another brigade) later being renamed the Kumaon Regiment. The Garhwalis were ethnically related to the Gurkhas, and are sometimes referred to as such.

For corresponding stills, held by the Imperial War Museum's Photograph Archive, see related items.