Title:MEN OF THE ASSAM RIFLES TRAINING AT SADIYA [Allocated Title]
Film Number:JFU 185
Other titles:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Summary: Infantry of the Assam Rifles seen preparing various traps during jungle warfare training at Sadiya, Assam, India.
Description: Wide shot; two soldiers walk along a jungle track before hacking down a number of bamboo poles. Men punt a small raft along a river. Men chopping bamboo. Close-up of a man chopping down a bamboo pole with a kukri (knife); he makes three or four diagonal strokes and the bamboo falls easily. Men carrying a length of bamboo. Four soldiers digging a pit; the nearest to the camera has a slung Thompson submachine gun. Close-ups of the soldiers digging; each is wearing webbing (belt kit) and packs. Fixing sharp punji stakes (spelled 'panji' on the dopesheet) into the pit. A soldier, lying prone with a rifle slung on his back and partly-unsheathed kukri on his belt, fixes more stakes into the trap. The trap is camouflaged with foliage laid over the pit. A soldier with hammer and chisel carves a recess into a tree. A hand grenade is put into a tin and placed in the recess. The tree bark is replaced over the recess and secured. The dopesheet adds that the grenade would be connected to a trip wire. Nine or ten soldiers, some looking alert and others more nonchalant, walk along a track towards camera. Men patrol through dense undergrowth before sprinting across a clearing. Soldiers running through undergrowth. A group pose for the camera after the exercise. Two laughing soldiers; one is an officer with rank insignia on his epaulettes and carries a cane (the battalion commander?) the other is in plain dress. Soldiers chopping bamboo with kukris to make stakes. A soldier carries a bundle of stakes on his shoulder.
Alternative Title:BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
Production Details: War Office Directorate of Public Relations (Production sponsor)
SEAC Film Unit (Production company)
Wishart, Basil Ferguson1919-09-191997-02-11Sergeant cameraman, No 9 Army Film and Photo Unit, later editor of the Shetland Times. Obituary see Herald Scotland, 13 February 1997. (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Indian Army, Assam Rifles, 2nd Battalion (regiment/service)
Keywords: Assam, India (geography)
Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event)
Burma 1942-1945 (theme)
British Army 1939-1945 (theme)
JFU 151 (ASKARIS TRAINING IN CEYLON [Allocated Title])
ABY 158 (JUNGLE SCHOOL [Main Title])
JFU 182 (LOCAL LABOURERS AND TACTICAL EXERCISE BY ROYAL WELCH FUSILIERS IN NORTHERN BURMA [Allocated Title])
