Around Christmas time 1944, Indian troops of the Jaipur Infantry, 8th Indian Division, operate in the Italian Apennine mountains despite bitterly cold winter weather, and British mountain guns provide support.

A battery of 3.7-inch Mountain Howitzers on a hillside in the snow. The guns show a mix of wooden wheeled and tyred carriages. Shots of a gun being fired. The British gunners are wearing new windproof clothing. Indian officer, by a broken wall, looking through binoculars. Landscape shots showing mountainous terrain and snow. Indian Bren gun team in a snowy foxhole. Close-up Bren gunner. Muzzle of Bren gun across landscape.Two riflemen in a slit trench. Section of infantry passing. Climbing a steep and snowy slope towards a large stone building. As they approach the building a British officer (or section commander?) gestures violently for the cameraman to get down. They proceed around the building to a section of broken wall where a Bren gunner gives cover. Close-up of a Bren gunner. Infantry go through a very narrow passage. Indian soldier looking out. An Indian soldier, almost naked, squats on the ground washing his clothes in the snow (a hardy Sepoy). Two signallers in snow; they are wearing white camouflage. They pass on messages to an Indian officer, named on the dopesheet as Lieutenant Lakhbir Singh, son of Major Gurbaksh Singh MC). Indian troops on the march in hilly country.

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.