An armoured column known as Stiletto Force of 19th Indian Division advances towards Mandalay, Burma's second city.

A queue of motor vehicles, mostly jeeps, waiting to cross a chaung (river or watercourse) at Powa Taung on the east bank of the Irrawaddy. Very faint footage of Major-General T W Rees, commander of 19th Indian Division, giving orders at Mayabin. Local Burmese civilians cheering the arrival of Indian troops. An Indian soldier throws cigarettes into the air and a group of civilians scramble to pick them up. Wide shot shows Lee medium tanks in a field; camera pans to show Mandalay Hill rising steeply. View of an Indian soldier manning a Bren light machine gun; he makes as if to reload but appears to place the same magazine on the gun. An Indian soldier standing with his rifle in the aim and Mandalay Hill in the background. Close-up of a Bren being fired; the gunner goes to reload but fumbles the magazine. Mandalay Hill in the distance. British and Indian officers directing operations against the hill. Shot along a line of Indian troops lying prone; the soldier nearest camera cocks his Sten submachine gun. Long lens view of a hillside with a lone white pagoda. Shells burst on the hillside. A Vickers medium machine gun is fired. A 3-inch mortar is fired. More film of a Vickers gun being fired. A Lee medium tank, possibly of 150th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, halts close to a number of huts and parked vehicles. The Lee fires its main gun. Indian troops examine an abandoned Japanese artillery piece with wooden wheels. A British military police sergeant sits in a jeep with an Indian driver; in the back of the jeep are two blindfolded Japanese prisoners of war.

Notes

The dopesheet refers to an armoured column of tanks, artillery and Punjabi troops which was tasked with driving to Mandalay. This is probably referring to 'Stiletto Force' which comprised the lorried infantry of 1st Battalion 15th Punjab Regiment, C Squadron of 7th Light Cavalry, a troop of Lee medium tanks of 150th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, 239th Field Battery Royal Artillery and machine gun, mortar and engineering troops. This force advanced from the Chaungmagyi Chaung on the evening of 5 March 1945, and reached the outskirts of Mandalay early on the morning of 8 March. Fighting in Mandalay would continue until 18 March.