Reel 1: 14 March 1946, at 1530 hours: looking aft as the cameraman's vessel, Landing Craft Mechanised (LCM) 7063, leaves the jetty at Penang, Malaya. Water churning at the stern. Landscape shot of Penang. The wheelhouse of LCM 7063, with Corporal Evans (Royal Marines) at the helm; the wheelhouse is marked with the name 'Dorothy'. A view of Landing Craft Infantry (Large) (LCI(L)) 211 with two closer shots. Signalman Maclean uses a large signalling lamp with close-up. Kedge wire being hauled in by a winch. Cable drum with the cable being hammered tight. Petty Officer J Baker operating the winch. The kedge anchor chain and anchor rising out of the water. Flags flying at the mast. Brigadier Lancelot Perowne, commander Penang sub-area and officer in command of this operation, comes ashore. Perowne boards a small ship, possibly the LCI(L) seen earlier. A detachment of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Gurkha Rifles at the quay; they are armed and in fighting order. Gurkhas board a Japanese landing craft still manned by its Japanese crew. The Gurkhas load stores aboard the Japanese landing craft. Lieutenant-Commander J R Lindsay-Thomson Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, the naval commander, in conversation with Brigadier Perowne. Gurkhas formed up on the quay. Troops boarding LCM 7063. Line of waiting Gurkhas. Close-up showing the lock of a Gurkha's Lee Enfield rifle and his kukri on his webbing belt. Line of waiting soldiers; one is carrying an Ordnance SBML 2-inch mortar. Japanese and Gurkhas loading stores onto the landing craft with one box probably containing .303-calibre ammunition. Wide shot of Gurkhas waiting to embark. Close-up of LCI(L) 211 on the vessel's bow; pan to Gurkhas embarking. Gurkhas boarding; a number can be seen to be wearing the 'ace of spades' patch of 25th Indian Division. Soft focus close-ups of Gurkhas. Line of Gurkhas embarking. Japanese landing craft at sea. A good shot shows Gurkhas onboard LCM 7063 at sea; troops are in the foreground and another vessel (possibly LCI(L) 211) can be seen swaying in the background illustrating the motion of the landing craft on the sea. Two landing craft with Penang in the background. Troops resting on the deck. A Gurkha drinks from his mess tin and laughs at the camera. Gurkhas and their kit sprawled on deck. Shot of the wheelhouse; a White Ensign flies above, Corporal Terry is at the helm and Sergeant J Terry (Royal Marines), commander of LCM 7063, is also in the wheelhouse. A reclining Gurkha looks at the camera.

15 March 1946: Approaching the jetty at Wanderer Bay - an RAF Spitfire fighter aircraft of RAF 28 Squadron can be seen making a low pass over the village. Another flypast with Gurkhas on the landing craft watching in the foreground. A Spitfire makes a spectacular low pass directly over the landing craft, which the cameraman does well to capture on film. A Gurkha climbs up the jetty and over a railing with his Bren light machine gun. Gurkhas on the jetty. Troops moving inland. Talking to convicts housed on the island. Two Gurkhas kneeling in bushes by a house. A Gurkha guards a group of convicts. A British signaller uses a wireless set. Another landing craft full of Gurkhas arrives at the jetty. Gurkhas along the jetty with reverse angle. The Siamese (Thai) government official responsible for the island is questioned. A Major Gamble, commanding officer of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Gurkha Rifles, searches huts for firearms and contraband accompanied by a Dr Vilbol (Vilbul?), the Siamese government's representative. Close-up of a Thai convict. Gamble, Vilbol and Lieutenant-Colonel P H D Panton, commanding 3rd Battalion 2nd Gurkha Rifles enter a policeman's hut. Siamese flag flying. Wide shot of a building used as an HQ. Brigadier Perowne coming ashore at Petok Waw (Pelok Waw?); Gurkhas on the jetty stand up as he arrives. Perowne, silhouetted against the sky, has a cigarette. The crew of LCM 7063; they are named as Corporal Evans and Sergeant Terry, Corporal McGuire (Royal Marines), Petty Officer Wooster (Royal Navy), Lieutenant-Commander Aluesbrook (Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, Naval Information Officer (sp?)) and Lieutenant-Commander Lindsay-Thomson. View from a landing craft approaching a beach at Talo Malaka, on the island's north-west coast. Troops jump off the landing craft into shallow water and come ashore. Three suspected pirates outside their hut guarded by a Gurkha with fixed bayonet. Close-ups of the three pirates.

Reel 2: A number of rice sacks under palm fronds. Officers and one of the pirates with sacks behind. An empty beach near the small rice dump. Seaman Patents adjusting his breathing apparatus before going beneath a Harbour Defence Motor Launch (HDML, one of two; HDML 1398 and 1376) to free a rope that had become entangled with the propeller. Seaman Patents in the water; he ducks his head and dives. A larger dump of rice sacks. Gurkhas, who have obviously divested themselves of their webbing and most of their uniforms, moving sacks of rice. In a wooded area a Gurkha, carrying a sack of rice that looks to be at least the same size as his body, passes camera. Gurkha carrying a sack. Four Gurkhas use wooden poles to carry a sack; it falls off and they laugh. Wooden huts can be seen behind. Sacks are carried to the waiting Japanese landing craft and put aboard. Onboard LCI(L) 211 a close-up of Sub-Lieutenant B G Brookham on the bridge. The wash of LCI(L) 211. LCM 7135 (commanded by Captain Webber, Royal Marines) alongside. Looking aft from the bridge of LCI(L) 211. View ahead as the vessel heads for shore at Talo Malaka. Wide shot showing beached landing craft with a local boat amongst them (impossible to tell if the occupants are locals or troops). Japanese landing craft moving. Gurkhas reembarking on LCI(L) 211. Recovered sacks of rice onboard a landing craft. More Gurkhas board. LCI(L) 211 at sea; Gurkha officers on deck. Wide shot of an HDML and the jetty at Petok Waw.

18 March 1946: An LCM brings in a local junk suspected of being used for piracy. Shots of members of the crew, suspected pirates. Gurkhas and members of the LCI(L)'s crew watch the junk. The junk comes alongside. Wide shot of a police station at Petok Waw. Shot of the building used as HQ land forces on Tarutao; a Union flag flies over it. Two members of a junk crew. British Gurkha officers sit down to tea and cigarettes, complete with teapot and mugs. They are named on the dopesheet as Captain Owen, 2nd Gurkha Rifles; Captain Banster, Royal Army Medical Corps; Lieutenant Hartwell and Lieutenant Bangyard, both 2nd Gurkha Rifles, and Sergeant Bascran, an interpreter. One side of a village street in Petok Waw. The other side with Lieutenant-Commander Lindsay-Thomson and Lieutenant-Colonel Panton walking away from camera in the midground.

19 March 1946: Wide shot of the Japanese landing craft and LCM. Japanese landing craft coming alongside LCI(L) 211. LCI(L) 211 with the Japanese landing craft and LCM alongside. View of the damaged jetty, apparently damaged by the berthing of the landing craft. The Thai government official questioned earlier is put aboard the Japanese landing craft along with his assistant and four suspected pirates. Government official and pirates onboard the landing craft. Witnesses on board the landing craft. Major Meadows, Lieutenant-Colonel Panton, Major Gamble, Lieutenant G Hartwell and Lieutenant King pose for the camera. Gurkhas reboarding the Japanese landing craft. Leaving Wanderer Bay with Petty Officer Whittle and Able Seaman Robinson with a log line in foreground. Panning landscape shot of the island.

20 March 1946: Approaching Prai jetty, Penang. Coming alongside. Gurkhas disembarking. On the quayside a group of Gurkhas; one of them checks his revolver. Group of Gurkhas with kit. Wide shot with Gurkhas marching away and others with their kit. More Gurkhas disembarking. Various shots of the recovered rice being unloaded onto the quayside.

Gurkha infantry, with support from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Spitfires of the Royal Air Force, launch an anti-piracy operation from Penang, Malaya, against the Thai island of Tarutao in the Strait of Malacca.

Notes

The dopesheet gives the location as Pulao Taru Tau. The area is now known as Tarutao, and is a Thai National Marine Park. Its use as a penal colony began in 1939 when the Thai government used it to house political prisoners who had attempted coups. With the onset of the war the prison infrastructure declined and apparently both guards and prisoners became pirates in order to survive. As one of the most important trade routes in the world the Straits of Malacca have had a more or less constant problem with piracy, which remains a significant problem in these waters.

The National Archives at Kew hold papers relating to these operations. See references below.

An interesting record of military operations in peacetime, and another record of Japanese-Allied cooperation in postwar south east Asia. In all an excellent film with a strong narrative, a number of striking shots, and made more valuable by detailed surviving documentation.