British and Indian troops of 25th Indian Division are put ashore by the Royal Indian Navy at Ru-Ywa in the coastal Arakan region of Burma.

A Landing Craft Assault (LCA) comes alongside a larger Landing Craft Infantry (Large) (LCI(L)). British troops board the LCA. A British Bren gunner puts the barrel of his weapon through a port in the front of the landing craft. LCA 413 motors directly away from camera. View from an LCA departing from LCI 286. Various landing craft moving about. The cameraman's landing craft passes HMIS Narbada (pennant U40) a Royal Indian Navy Bittern class sloop supporting the landings. View ahead as the landing craft approaches shore. A Royal Indian Navy officer, manning a Lewis light machine gun, exchanges his peaked cap for a steel helmet. A landing craft directly astern. Soldiers marching; they pass a sign declaring 'Mines'. The men walk along a jetty to embark aboard an LCI(L). A file of Indian troops, evidently in high spirits, passes camera. Heavily laden troops board a waiting LCI(L). Two Indian men watch the boarding; a close-up shows one of them wearing a shoulder title which reads 'RIN [Royal Indian Navy] Commando'. A British soldiers steps aboard the LCI(L) carrying a small puppy, his regiment's mascot. The LCI(L) moves off. View from aboard an LCI(L) with a White Ensign flying at the stern. Waiting landing craft. A landing craft passes. Men waiting on deck of the LCI(L). LCAs make their way up a chaung (river or watercourse) with thick jungle on either side. The landing craft reach their landing site and turn towards the beach. The cameraman's landing craft beaches and the men disembark. Other landing craft with their bows against the beach. An aircraft passes overhead. Men of a Royal Indian Navy beach party get to work with axes and machetes to clear a landing area for following troops. Others set up a loudspeaker to coordinate the landings. Landing craft coming ashore. Indian soldiers of the 17th Battalion 5th Mahratta Light Infantry on the march. View of an empty road; camera tilts down to show three British soldiers lying prone behind a log and a tree. Close-up of a British soldier bringing the sights of his Thompson submachine gun up to his eye and pan to a soldier aiming his Lee Enfield No. 3 rifle (according to the dopesheet, the first contact with the enemy had occurred 10 minutes previously, and four hundred yards from this position). Wreckage of a Japanese fighter aircraft; type is not clear but possibly a Nakajima Ki-43. Indian troops walk along a raised embankment through a mangrove swamp. A member of the Royal Indian Navy Beach Commando party uses a flag to direct a landing craft to its disembarkation point. View looking along the beach as more landing craft arrive, drop their ramps, and troops stream off. View from the water. HMIS Narbada is on station in a chaung to provide gunfire support. Some very fine aerial views of Narbada, including low fly-bys, possibly taken from an artillery spotting aircraft. Good aerial views of another Royal Indian Navy sloop, HMIS Jumna, (pennant U21) apparently further downstream than Narbada.

Notes

Allowing for the fact that the footage of the men boarding the LCI(L) should come at the start of this reel, this is still a good record of the close cooperation between the Army and Navy necessary to successfully conduct amphibious operations of this sort.

This landing was conducted by 53rd Indian Brigade of 25th Indian Division, XV Corps. The British troops are identifed on the dopesheet as the York and Lancaster Regiment, therefore 9th Battalion, which was part of the divisional infantry. The purpose of this landing was to enable two brigades to move north and trap a Japanese force being held near Tamandu.

Landings at Ru-Ywa were also covered by British Army cameramen. See related items.