Footage from the Battle of Imphal in Manipur state, India, with scenes of tanks firing against enemy positions, artillery fire, Indian and Japanese wounded, air evacuation of casualties and dead Japanese.

Landscape shots showing the ruggedness of the terrain. Aerial view of road with motor transport. Two Stuart ('Honey') light tanks (possibly of 7th Light Cavalry) drive along a road passing a line of mules being walked along the roadside. Lorries of various types and a motorcycle despatch rider drive along a dusty road. More views of motor transport. A Lee medium tank (of 254th Indian Tank Brigade) with Sikh troops. A dusty hillside road with a parked Universal carrier. A Universal carrier passes camera at speed, slews into a right hand turn and disappears around a bend. A mule train walks along a ridge above the camera. A Lee passes another on the road; a number of infantry are riding on its rear hull. Sikh infantry pass a tank; others lie prone on the edge of the road. Infantry pass. Pan from parked tank to prone infantry to smoke on the opposite hillside. Infantry and parked tanks. A Lee drives past. Two parked Lees fire their main guns against the opposite hillside with coverage from various angles. Tank commander standing in his turret. Tank commander in his turret speaking on radio. Tank commander with binoculars. Smoke over a ridge in the middle distance. Series of shots of tanks firing at the hillside. Wide shot showing vehicles driving along a road past a hillside covered in smoke. Wide shot with a hut in the foreground and smoke, possibly from a smoke shell or mortar bomb, on a hillside in the background. The smokescreen spreads before dissipating. A cloud of dust rises on the hillside (from a shell?). Medium close-up of an Indian gunlayer adjusting the sights of an Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Mountain Howitzer. Views of the gun being fired, of smoke or dust rising from an impact in the distance, and of the battery position. Sikh infantrymen carry a stretcher along a hillside road, probably the same as seen earlier. The stretcher is carefully carried around a tank which is blocking the road; the wounded man's long hair mark him out as a Sikh and he is obviously in some distress. A wounded soldier is helped along by another. A Lee halts on the road. More Sikh troops carrying a stretcher. Footage, probably taken from a Stinson Sentinel light aircraft or similar, showing another light aircraft taking off. Aerial footage showing light aircraft in flight with views of the terrain. Brief air-to-air view of a light aircraft, probably a United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Stinson L1 Vigilant ambulance. A wounded Indian soldier has his arm bandaged. Wounded are put aboard an ambulance. A USAAF Stinson Sentinel landing, followed by a Vigilant. Parked ambulance with Vigilant. A wounded soldier on a stretcher (a Gurkha?) is put aboard the aircraft. Views of aircraft taking off. Wide shot and medium close-up of Sikh troops entering a gully. Indian troops emerge from undergrowth and walk amongst Japanese dead; the leading soldier has a Thompson submachine gun. More Japanese dead. An Indian soldier removes a Japanese light machine gun (probably Type 96) from a bunker. A wounded Japanese soldier has a leg wound dressed by a Indian soldier while another gives him water. Medium close-up of the Japanese soldier; he covers his face with his arm. Another Japanese soldier on a stretcher, if not dead then badly wounded, has a strip of cloth placed over his eyes. Four Indian stretcherbearers carry a stretcher. Troops search the bodies of dead Japanese. Scenes of wooden huts in flames. A line of parked jeeps, some scantily camouflaged with foliage. A Universal carrier passes at speed. Another Universal carrier passes. A jeep passes followed by a Stuart light tank. Ambulances pass.

Notes

This film is difficult to place. The dopesheet is very vague and gives no real details, and furthermore this material was apparently shot by four different cameramen none of whom shot any slates. Given this uncertainty it makes it very difficult to make assertions about this film with any confidence. The date places this footage in the early phase of the battle but as Imphal is approached by a number of mountainous roads it is difficult to say where this footage was shot.

Series note: The MWY series of films is believed to be part of a ‘pool’ of film received by the Government of India from various sources, including South East Asia Command, the Indian Inter-Service Public Relations Directorate, the Ministry of Information, and from Allied governments. This footage would have been considered for editing and release through the Indian Newsreel Parade; see INR series.