Indian Engineers of the Madras Sappers and Miners, part of 10th Indian Division, erect an aerial ropeway to transport vehicles, guns and casualties across a ravine in Italy, and infantry are seen training.

A shot from a low position, looking up; on the left of the frame a brick wall with Indian troops and above a cable running across a gap, with a jeep suspended from two pulleys on the cable. The jeep moves slowly across the gap on the cable. Team of Indian Engineers (wreath with star capbadge) hauling on a thick rope. Another angle of the jeep moving across the gap. Tilt from pulleys to the jeep with Indian troops busy attending to the ropes etc. A Bedford 3-ton lorry, the sun shining brightly from its windscreen, is used to hoist the jeep up; the jeep rises. Brief shot shows an Indian soldier standing up on the jeep, now hanging above camera. Pan, in bright sunshine, showing a river running through a steep ravine. Indian Engineers at work on the ravineside with ropes. Preparing the jeep. View looking down on a destroyed bridge with an Indian Engineers’ Bailey bridge under construction. Alternative view of the site. Launching a Bailey section. A 6-pounder anti-tank gun is positioned for transit on the ropeway. The gun is hoisted up with a soldier sitting astride it. Three Indian soldiers, wearing Red Cross armbands, attending to a cradle system. A stretcher carrying a casualty is attached to the ropeway and hauled across. Stretcher case arriving; he is unhooked and put straight into the back of an ambulance. An Indian soldier swims across a fast flowing river with a cable. Casualties are put onto an improvised raft. Soldiers haul on a rope. The raft is floated into the river. [764 ft] Indian Bren gun team firing; pan to troops moving up through scrub under cover of a smoke grenade (a man is seen throwing a smoke grenade). Troops charging amidst the ruins of a bridge and through water. [858 ft]

Notes

A well-shot piece, giving a clear impression of the workings of this ropeway. Also a good illustration of the problems of mobility for an army attacking over terrain highly suited for defence.

The dopesheet for this piece appears to be a typed version of an original, and is undated. The location is not clear, but the presence of 10th Indian Division insignia suggests somewhere in the centre of the Allied front. The Madras Sappers and Miners are named; 10th Indian Division included 10th and 61st Field Companies of that unit.

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.