INDIAN TROOPS AND MULES AT WORK [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: INDIAN TROOPS AND MULES AT WORK [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: BCY 35
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Unedited and uncensored newsreel rushes showing 32 Animal Transport Company, a Royal Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC) unit consisting of Moslem Punjabi servicemen, on active service with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) near the Franco-Belgian border.
  • Description: Part I. A sepoy with a big grin on his face carries the saddle for a pack mule balanced on his head. Several mule handlers form up for morning parade with their animals. Filmed from inside a barn where hay fodder is stored, the mules are led out for exercise by their handlers; each man is in control of more than one animal. Two men put sacks of fodder (?) onto the back of a mule and make them secure, supervised by the non-commissioned officer (NCO) in charge (only his shadow is visible). A column of mules is led out of the camp for exercise, watched by the NCO. A backlit view of the animals and their handlers passing underneath the archway leading out of the farm where they have established their camp. Portraits of a Risaldar with First World War campaign ribbons on his tunic, a Troop Daffadar (wearing Sergeant's stripes) and an ordinary muleteer. Three sepoys pose for the camera; the one in the middle, wearing a woolly cap comforter instead of the standard-issue turban, steps forward and marches past the camera. Another muleteer poses for the camera in front of one of the camp's Nissen huts wearing a greatcoat and a turban; he puts his traditional headgear on the ground in front of him and puts on a steel helmet. He stands to attention with the turban in the right hand. 132 feet Part II. Filmed on a bright winter's day from a moving camera, an Indian RIASC officer on horseback leads a column of at least six carts, each pulled by a team of two mules, along a road leading past the 'Café de la Gare' on the outskirts of a French town near Bourghelles; riding in the back of each cart is a British soldier, probably from an RASC unit. The column passes the camera in a bend in a typical French pavé road, i.e. one made with tightly-packed cobble stones. The camera keeps running although the cameraman himself is unaware he hasn't switched it off; briefly visible is another war correspondent, the British Movietonews cameraman Norman Fisher. 195 feet Part III. Inside their camp, cart drivers mount their vehicles at the command of the RIASC officer seen on the right; a short distance away, animal handlers are grooming mules. The animals are wearing blankets to protect them from the cold. A column of mule-drawn carts files out of the camp along a 'corduroy' track made from timber sections; each cart driver is wearing steel helmet on top of a balaclava and the regulation gas mask around the neck. The animal handlers seen earlier check hooves and groom their beasts by slapping them lightly on their flanks and brushing down their noses whilst a farrier perforates a horse shoe with a hammer and a nail. A senior NCO watches the animal handlers at work. A line of sepoys walks on duckboards pass the Nissen huts in the camp balancing saddles on their heads and tackle in their hands, watched by their NCO. The sepoy seen earlier wearing the woolly cap comforter shaves one of his comrades with a single-edged blade. 389 feet Part IV. At a railhead, mule carts are seen backed up to a line of railway goods waggons which British RASC men are busy unloading. Bags of cement are unloaded from one box car into a mule cart whose wooden sides have been lined with panels of corrugated iron. Afterwards, the RIASC and RASC light each others' cigarettes in a show of harmony for the camera. Travelling shots filmed from one of the mule carts as it heads from the railhead to deliver its cargo of cement bags. 489 feet
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: BCY 35
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1940-02-10
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Universal (Production company) Noble, R (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Indian Army, Royal Indian Army Supply Corps, 32 Animal Transport Company (regiment/service) British Expeditionary Force (1939-1940) (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Bourghelles, Nord, France (geography) Phoney War 1939-1940, Second World War (event) British Army 1939-1945 (theme) Empire & Commonwealth (theme) Indian Army 1939-1945 (theme) France and the Low Countries 1939-1940 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 489 ft; Running time: 5 mins 26 secs
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    BCY 35

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    MWY 92 (INTERVIEWS WITH OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL INDIAN ARMY SERVICE CORPS CONTINGENT WHICH SERVED WITH THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, AND A VISIT BY MAJOR-GENERAL ALBAN [Allocated Title])
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