Film of the Battle of Kohima, presumably shot in late May 1944, showing tanks, infantry and artillery in action, probably in the Treasury Hill or Church Knoll areas.

View looking out over hillsides with two ridgelines at Kohima, presumably towards the enemy; there are pitched rooves on the misty skyline, a substantial, single-storey hut right midground and shelters amongst stone walls in the foreground. Looking (backwards?) at the hillside; there are troops amongst walls and bashas and a Grant tank, marked with a 1 inside a triangle (therefore probably A Squadron of its regiment) on its turret, drives past. A Grant tank, a short way off and stationary by a stone wall, fires its main and secondary armament, and its coaxial machine gun; another Grant positions itself in the foreground. Troops can be seen hurrying around and past the tank. Six British soldiers; two look to their front (one leaning on his rifle, the other smoking) and the others look to their equipment. Three Grant tanks; a man apparently not in fighting order runs forward. A laden British soldier passes camera; the man leaning on his rifle stands in the background and appears to be standing by the firing slit of a bunker. Kneeling British soldier. Another British soldier (an officer?) looks out from a Bren gun position. The two British soldiers (kneeling and leaning) seen again from different angle. A British platoon looking out over the parapet and standing ready. Profile of soldiers looking out; one man is chewing and a wisp of cigarette smoke (?) drifts. Looking out toward the ridgelines in the distance. A gun team urgently manhandle a 6-pounder anti-tank gun forwards and fire it several times; cameraman appears to be sheltering behind debris. A three-inch mortar is fired several times; the camera then whirls out of control (cameraman falls over or takes cover?). A glimpse is had of a pile of mortar ammunition and what appears to be a graveyard (wooden crosses and earth mounds); camera ends up looking skyward. Long shot of hillside with tiers of stone walls and shattered trees. Out of focus shot of a Bren gun barrel with the ridgeline (seen at start of reel) behind. A long shot of the hillside; there appear to men, seen only as extremely small figures, climbing the ridge. At one point an explosion is seen, slightly right centre of frame, and one man appears to fall back down the hill (grenade used to clear a bunker?). View looking out from a trench or bunker. A Vickers gun is fired by British crew. Another shot looking out to the ridgelines. Interior bunker or dug-out with two British soldiers inside; another two stand outside and the faces of the men inside are lit by the daylight from outside. Closer shot man looking out. Bren gunner. Man looking out from a trench; a Sten gun and some hand grenades lie on the parapet in front of him. Three Indian soldiers wearing turbans and chin beards, one with Thompson submachine gun. View from a high point (hilltop?) with thick smoke on a hillside below. Very hazy shot apparently showing massed British armour; five Grant tanks stand almost wheel-to-wheel, one fires its main gun. British infantry on a hillside track with thick undergrowth. Two men confer; one appears to be wearing earphones of some sort and he shows his pocket watch to the other. The infantry fix bayonets and move off up the track; one man has a kukri on his belt. Three officers in discussion over maps; one map is clearly marked Kohima with a point circled (near Treasury Hill?). Aradura is also marked. Another high shot, overlooking hillside with smoke spreading. A Royal Indian Army Service Corps mule train with muleteers in waterproofs passing a road sign giving directions to Kohima, Imphal and Dimapur. A Universal carrier passes. Close-up of the road sign. More carriers pass. Gurkha infantry pass; they are identifiable by the Gurkha hats which a number of them are carrying. Medium close-up Gurkha corporal. Mule train silhouetted against the sky. Feet and hooves on muddy track. British troops with mules. Troops by a tall stone wall with a large ruined building standing above. Pan of the building and other damaged buildings. Indian troops with pick axes. File of troops walking through wreckage. Indian troops walk through a damaged, corrugated iron building. Indian troops pass a damaged wall of a stone-built building. Single soldier amidst an ocean of twisted corrugated metal.

Notes

Unfortunately no documentation for this film. Given the rarity of film from Kohima, this film is extremely valuable. Dates, precise locations and units are all ambiguous, though some guesses are possible. The film bears instructive comparison with MWY 26, which appears to show the same location at a similar time and which is documented as being shot at Church Knoll. The mortar position may be operated by the 1st Battalion Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surreys). This film probably shows one of 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade's assault on the knoll, mounted between 24 May and 1 June 1944. The tanks are probably of 149 Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps. The cameraman is identified tentatively, Sergeant Salem being the cameraman of MWY 26. If the infantry are indeed from 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade (as in MWY 26), the Gurkhas seen may be 4th Battalion 1st Gurkha Rifles.

Despite the lack of documentation, this film is well shot and gives an excellent impression of the battlefield, and in some of the shots a palpable tension is felt. The shot by the mortar pit, in which the cameraman falls over, has (when seen in slow motion) an eerily morbid quality with its glimpse of the graves, while the shot of men fixing bayonets unintentionally evokes the 'sunken lane' sequence of the 1916 film 'The Battle of the Somme'. A similar evocation is felt in the ambiguous shot in which a man appears to fall while assaulting the ridge.

Militarily speaking, this film reflects well the appalling difficulty of terrain and the devastation of the Kohima battlefield, the British superiority in armour, the use of animal transport and represents British, Indian and Gurkha troops.

For other film of Kohima, see related items.