In northern Burma, Indian Engineers with 36th Division practice with their rifles and Bren guns, and are also seen repairing a bridge on the Mogaung-Mandalay railway line.

Close-up of the lock of an Enfield No.4 rifle being fired by an Indian soldier. Several more shots are fired. Close-up of the muzzle with pigsticker bayonet fitted. A British soldier, with a pipe clenched between his teeth, fires a few rounds. A Bren gun shoot close to a river. Indian Engineers at work repairing the Mogaung-Mandalay railway line; a sapper uses a torch to cut a rail. Close-ups and other angles of the torch. Close-up sapper. Lifting a section of rail and carrying it away. Two men heaving on a pole. Moving a girder (part of a railway bridge over a river?); it is heaved off the bridge. Men struggling to lift the girder. It is pushed into the river. Another large piece of structural steel is heaved off. Position rails. A somewhat incongruous shot, apparently showing a smokescreen in jungle. A second shot appears to show a shower of phosphorous from a grenade (?). Sapper sawing through a beam with a two-man saw. Saw blade. Sapper. Engineers carrying a beam. Man with sledgehammer. Shaping beams with axes. Men at work. Men pushing a large wooden frame towards the bridge site, and then lowering it down. Positioning the frame. Man with sledgehammer. Laying rails across the bridge (to make a deck?). Briefly out of focus shot, then corrected, showing positioning of sleepers. Hammering nails.

Notes

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.