Reel 1: Long shots of terrain at Gangaw shows smoke spreading and aircraft attacking. A casualty is carried on a stretcher by Gurkhas to a dressing station marked with a red cross and screened with sheets. A dressing is removed from the casualtys head. A surgeon operates on the casualty, apparently removing a (shell?) splinter from the casualtys head. An RAF Stinson Sentinel, serial KJ408, taxiing at the light airstrip at Gangaw. A senior officer, apparently Lieutenant-General Sir Montagu Stopford, commander of XXXIII Indian Corps, is greeted by the commander of the Lushai Brigade, Brigadier Marindin; this shot is grey and none too clear. View of the strip with a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Noorduyn C-64 Norseman landing towards camera. Unloading gear from the aircraft. The aircraft turns to depart. A casualty on a stretcher in the rear of a Sentinel for evacuation. Close-up of the Indian casualty. USAAF Sentinel passes camera with a number of other USAAF aircraft parked on the strip; some wear white stripes on their fins indicating 1st Air Commando Group. Aerial footage showing a sharp jungle ridge standing above low cloud. Terrain view, partially obscured by wing strut. Pilot. Aerial view of Tiddim. View of hillside with a road and light airstrip. Following a road at low altitude a motor convoy raises dust. Flying over a river at (sometimes very) low altitude. A flight of five other USAAF Sentinels in flight. Six Sentinels in flight, seen from below and behind the formation. More distant formation shots with clouds and terrain behind. At an airfield flight of six Sentinels make a formation flypast, clearly for the great benefit of the camera.

Reel 2: Casualty lying on stretcher in a 1st Air Commando Sentinel. He is lifted out by a number of Indian soldiers and carried to a motor ambulance. Close-up casualty on stretcher. Stretcher put onto ambulance. Stretcher lifted off an ambulance. Close-up casualty. Stretcher is carried into reception tent at 13 Indian Casualty Clearing Station. Close-up sign Reception Room. Stretcher carried to tent marked All surgical cases report here. Close-up of the sign. A British major looks at a casualtys paperwork then examines him with a stethoscope; he has a dressing on his abdomen. On a tented ward a woman wearing the patch of XXIII Indian Corps and two pips, probably of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, gives a patient a drink from the spout of a small teapot. Close-up the casualty; he has a tube up his nose. British patients in pyjamas sitting in deck chairs outside Ward 2; a nurse is present and one man has a small Burmese boy sitting on his knee. Close-ups of the boy, who is wearing a beret with Royal Army Medical Corps cap badge. Other patients in deck chairs. Close-up casualty on stretcher. More casualties, sitting by a tree. The stretcher is carried away into a tent marked Surgical Specialist; two medics are in full operating garb. Close-up of the sign. A male British surgeon (?) accepts a cigarette from a female medic (theatre assistant?) before lighting her cigarette. American airman on telephone. A group of American fliers are briefed around a map held against the side of a Sentinel. Close-up one of the airmen. The group disperses in an apparent show of urgency. Pilots mounting up and taxiing away. Two Sentinels accelerating down the runway. Another Sentinel takes off; its cowling is marked Heading Home Chrysler Corporation. More Sentinels accelerating away. Sentinel named 'Peggy' takes off. Sentinel named Haw Spiss! passes. Sentinel named Gloria passes.

As the Lushai Brigade take Gangaw following a heavy air attack, casualties are flown out by American pilots and then transferred to 13 Indian Casualty Clearing Station.

Notes

This film gives a good impression of aerial casualty evacuation in this theatre. Aerial casualty evacuation was a distinguishing feature of this campaign, and the willingness of light aircraft pilots, often American, to put their planes down in tight spaces to extract casualties, was a great boon to morale.

The dopesheet for this film is undated, but the footage of the bombing of Gangaw strongly suggests a shooting date of 10 January 1945 for that sequence. Gangaw was subjected to bombing by four squadrons of medium bombers and three of fighters. The other material in these reels may have been shot over following days.

The dopesheet spells Marindin as 'Masonden', but the identification of him as commander of the Lushai Brigade suggests Marindin.

A notable film, containing a number of striking shots and illustrating well the various stages of casualty evacuation, surgery, nursing and convalescence.

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.