In Mandalay, Burma's second city, the stronghold of Fort Dufferin is pounded by air attacks and after the fall of the fort, the divisional commander Major-General Rees makes a tour of inspection.

Outside Fort Dufferin a unit of troops passes two parked jeeps. Men 'marching easy' as they pass camera. A Union flag flies on a long pole on the wall of the fort. Local civilians wave as a jeep passes. A (Burmese?) soldier of 19th Indian Division with a civilian woman. Two civilians, a man and a woman, tie a blanket up into a bundle. View from Mandalay Hill with smoke over the city. On the top of Mandalay Hill Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese, commander Allied Land Forces South East Asia, looks out over the city with binoculars. Closer shot. More smoke over the fort; two Allied single-engined fighters fly towards the camera. Longer lens view of clouds of smoke. Aircraft attacking. View from the forward slope looking up at the party of officers watching the bombing. Troops inside the gate of the fort; the diminutive figure with binoculars is Major-General Rees, commander of 19th Indian Division, who stands with other officers and behind them is a small lorry marked 'BBC Mobile Recording Unit'. Rees and party passes a very tall flagpole; camera tilts up to show a Union flag and the flag of 19th Indian Division flying. Rees and the others on the wall of the fort with Mandalay Hill rising in the background. Smouldering rolling stock at a railyard inside the fort. Troops cheer as they pass a cine cameraman who films them. Troops passing jeeps. From Mandalay Hill; aircraft attacking the walls of Fort Dufferin with time-delay bombs. Drifting smoke. A well-dressed civilian, probably Richard Gardiner Casey, Governor of Bengal, with an Indian soldier, possibly a public relations officer. More smoke. A United States Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell medium bomber attacking the fort, seen through a long lens. Smoke and aircraft attacking. A jeep with trailer drives along the moat. General Rees enters the fort on foot with a scarf over his mouth against dust. A jeep enters the fort; Indian troops nearby gawp and laugh at the camera. Group of officers, facing away from the camera, with the BBC wagon behind them. Long shot of the group descending an ornamental staircase. A smouldering fire near the railyard. Jeep crowded with Indian soldiers passes; one soldier is playing a wind instrument and another a drum. Jeep and trailer passes. Rees and group. A Punjabi Sikh wearing a turban climbs a rope ladder to raise the flag of 19th Indian Division. More footage of air attack on the fort; one bomb lands in the moat and raises a plume of water. A march past, probably of the 1st Battalion 15th Punjab Regiment. Two jeep ambulances approach camera carrying casualties. Rees' jeep stops and he talks to the wounded. A corpse lies near a gate. Refugees talking to a BBC correspondent, probably Richard Sharp. Refugees passing. Jeep with civilians in the back drives off. A British soldier in a jeep bandages a young girl's knee. Jeep and trailer carrying civilians.

Notes

The dopesheet for this film is undated. It is marked as passed by the censor on 23 March 1945, and events seen suggest a shooting date from approximately 18 March (probably the bombing sequences) to 20 March 1945 (the entry to Fort Dufferin).

The Museum's Sound Archive holds a variety of contemporary material relating to the capture of Mandalay. See related items.