Footage from the town of Imphal in Manipur, India in the aftermath of Japanese air raids on 20 and 21 April 1943, showing the cremation on pyres of some of the civilian dead, and buildings (including a hospital) set on fire.

Civilian woman squatting on the ground next to the body of a relative lying on a section of corrugated iron. Others by bodies on metal sheeting. A woman covers her face and wails. A man carries a handful of burning sticks to light a funeral pyre. Fire catching beneath the pyre. Men digging the pit beneath the pyre. A body is placed onto the pyre; other bodies (soles of feet) can be seen lower down. Pyre burning with bomb damaged buildings behind. An open-sided building burning after bombing. Three British soldiers, one in hospital pyjamas, watching a hospital building burn; salvaged hospital beds can be seen on the grass beyond them. Three soldiers in bush hats and pyjamas. Group of soldiers in pyjamas with a Queen Alexandra’s nurse. Remnants of a burning wooden building. Tilt from a bomb crater to show the hospital building next to it with red cross marking clearly visible. Indian patients outside the hospital. Miscellaneous collection of hospital equipment (furniture etc) lying on grass; tilt up to the burning hospital. Soldiers forming a human chain passing buckets across a road.

Notes

Some highly effective shots, with the images of burning of the bodies being particularly striking. Unusually, the dopesheet for this film has had certain details physically excised from the paper. The excised details would appear to relate to the details of the strength of the Japanese force (possibly 27 aircraft), the altitude from which they attacked, and some technical details of the disposable fuel tanks carried by the Japanese escorting fighters. According to the dopesheet some 87 people were killed, and contemporary reports in The Times claimed two enemy aircraft shot down.

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.