As troops of 5th Indian Division advance on Kennedy Peak, during their drive down the Tiddim Road, a mortar battery and aircraft provide support, Japanese dead are seen, and an Allied combat cameraman goes about his work.

Indian signalmen using mules to lay telephone cable; the cable drums are on the mules backs. Laying and securing the cable. Cable paying out from a spool. Brief shot, apparently at incorrect speed, showing a cameraman looking out over mountainous terrain; a patch suggests he is of the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) and he has a slung Devry 35mm cine camera. A British 3-inch mortar battery, probably 351st Anti-Tank Battery, 56th Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery, in action at Lemon a peak near Kennedy; the batterys laundry hangs on lines. Various shots of the battery in action, including a simultaneous shoot by four mortars at once. Battery in action. Ammunition. Plotting on a map. Man on field telephone. View of a hillside with a cloud of dust. Hillside; two aircraft streak across shot, low over the hill and a few seconds later their bombs explode on the hillside. More air attacks. Indian soldier (officer?) with map and binoculars points something out. A Lee medium tank on a narrow hillside road; it fires its various guns and cartridge cases are baled out from a hatch on the right hand side. Wide terrain shot with a Dakota transport aircraft dropping supplies by parachute; the AFPU cameraman watches. The cameraman seen earlier gets out his still camera to snap the Dakota as it passes. Japanese dead. Terrain with single Indian soldier looking out. Close-up Indian soldier. A piece of Japanese belt equipment, with grenades attached; a photograph of a Japanese woman lies on the ground with it. Indian Bren gun position; pan to show the extremity of the terrain which the position overlooks. Views from a ridge near Kennedy Peak; the clouds are far below. Indian troops lying prone with 2-inch mortar. A probably staged shot in which two Indians, one a soldier with a Thompson submachine gun and the other a moustachioed officer, enter shot and kneel as the officer points something out and looks through binoculars. Close-up officer. A lone soldier against a backdrop of clouds. A British observation post with radio antenna. British troops, one on a telephone. Dead Japanese, apparently a duplication of an earlier shot.

Notes

A notable film for various reasons. The film illustrates extremely well the high-altitude mountainous terrain around Kennedy Peak, strongly implying how difficult military operations must have been in this area. Some of the landscape shots are strikingly attractive. Also a rare glimpse of a combat cameraman seen in front of the lens and at work. These operations were covered by two British Army cameramen, Sergeants Taylor and Hewit; for their material see related items.

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.