Part 1: Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese, commander 8th Army, passes in his jeep. Shots of Leese in his jeep speaking to a soldier (a military policeman?) at the roadside before driving away. General Harold Alexander, commander 15th Army Group, gets into an open car with an unnamed civilian man in spectacles and flat cap. The car drives away. 10:00:58

Part 2: Wide shot Italian countryside in Lanciano region with mountains in the distance. Smoke rising on horizon. A Sherman tank drives through a cultivated field past some small huts. A wounded officer of the Frontier Force (probably 3rd Battalion 12th Frontier Force Regiment, 11th Indian Infantry Brigade) is lifted down from the tank to a stretcher; soldier in foreground wears the patch of 4th Indian Division. Indian Engineers (?) cross a stone bridge over a fast flowing river carrying mine detectors. Wide landscape shot with no apparent movement. Frontier Force Bren gun team in the window of a damaged building. Close shot of two Sherman tanks in a field. Sikh (?) soldier lying on a stretcher; he has apparently been wounded in the ankle. Two Sikhs, one of whom is a corporal, walking very stiffly and leaning on the other. The wounded Sikh on the stretcher is carried away by British and Indian soldiers. Wide shot over open ground dotted with small trees. Footage of a Vickers machine gun in a sandbagged bunker, some filmed from some distance outside the bunker. Pile of empty canvas belts for the Vickers gun; camera moves to show empty ammo boxes and the entrance to the bunker. Indian officer briefing his subordinates. Trees swaying in the wind. 10:04:03

Part 3: Commander of a British Lee medium tank (3rd Carabiniers?) looking out from his turret through binoculars. A Lee drives along a road towards camera, passing parked Lee and motor vehicles. British infantry of the West Yorkshire Regiment follow behind on foot; they are wearing rain capes against the weather. Various shots of tanks and infantry on the road. 10:05:50

Part 4: Three men standing with a map by two parked jeeps. Wide shot scrubby open ground with smoke spreading. Group shot a handful of British and Indian soldiers. A long mule column passes along a road through paddy fields with sharp hills in the background. Wide shot; open ground with a few small huts in the distance and smoke rising on the horizon. In a wooded area Lieutenant General Slim (commander 14th Army) with Lieutenant General Scoones (commander IV Corps); they go into a small hut, apparently the corps headquarters. Slim sitting with Scoones and Major-General Cowan, commander 17th Indian Division, on a bamboo veranda. Slim, Scoones and Cowan visit a battlefield at a village (probably Marbam) on the road road at Bishenpur, very recently cleared of Japanese by the Gurkhas. 10:07:36

Part 5: View from a hilltop, looking towards another steep hill, with a road running around it; smoke can be seen rising from several points. A shell impacts on the hillside with the helmets of British/Indian troops in the foreground. An Indian soldier fires a Vickers machine gun. A corporal speaks on a wireless set. Another shot of the hill with a thick smokescreen in place; slight movements can be seen on the hillside (infantry moving?). Close-ups of the Vickers gun, including the guns cooling water boiling off. Close-up British soldier holding binoculars to his eyes with one hand and telephone with the other. A British soldier helps a wounded Gurkha. Brief shot of an ambulance being loaded. Hillside with Vickers gun foreground giving cover; streaks of tracer can be seen. Low-flying Hawker Hurricanes attack with bombs. A Gurkha patrol move off downhill. Interior observation post; one British soldier on telephone, another using a rangefinder. More smoke and machine gun fire against the hillside. A Gurkha fires a Bren gun, apparently from a similar position to the Vickers. More close-up of the Vickers gun. 10:09:55

A composite reel containing five different items of rushes; brief shots of Sir Oliver Leese and Sir Harold Alexander visiting 4th Indian Division in forward areas near Cassino in Italy; footage relating to Indian troops in combat near Lanciano, also in Italy; British tanks and infantry advancing north from Imphal in Manipur, India towards Kohima; General Slim visiting forward areas near Bishenpur, also in Manipur; and combat footage of a Gurkha attack on a feature called 'Scraggy' in the Shenam Saddle during the battle of Imphal.

Notes

This reel contains five separate items, each of which is separately described on a dopesheet. However, not all of these are dated. Part two is dated to 25-27 May 1944. None of the other sheets are dated, but these stories likely all date from around May 1944.

Part 4: Though the location is not specified, the dopesheet refers to Japanese being 'ousted from a village a few hundred yards behind the 17 Division HQ'. This is very likely a reference to the Japanese troops of 2nd Battalion 214th Regiment who infiltrated to the village of Marbam on 20/21 May 1944, close to the hill feature Point 2926. The resulting fight to dislodge them was mutually costly but the Japanese battalion was destroyed, withdrawing with only 37 men fit to fight. The position was cleared on 29 May; as the dopesheet states this film was shot 'very recently' afterwards, the likely shooting date is probably only a few days after 29 May.

Part 5: 'Scraggy' was one of a series of hills in the Shenam Saddle, along the road from Palel (south-east of Imphal) to Tamu. Scraggy was one of a series of hills along the road, named (west-east) Recce Hill, Gibraltar, Malta, Scraggy, Crete West and Crete East. The shape of the road seen would suggest the cameraman's position is on Malta, looking east. The dopesheet is undated and does not identify any units, but if the date of this item is similar to others on this reel, these troops are likely from the all-Gurkha 37th Indian Infantry Brigade.

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.