RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES PART 1 - WITH US 1st CAVALRY DIVISION AT LEYTE LANDING 20 OCTOBER 1944 [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES PART 1 - WITH US 1st CAVALRY DIVISION AT LEYTE LANDING 20 OCTOBER 1944 [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 4385
  • Other titles: WILLIAM COURTENAY AMATEUR FILMS OF PACIFIC WAR 1943-1946 [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Amateur colour film shot by British journalist ( Sunday Times, Sunday Chronicle, Daily Graphic) William Courtenay showing the return of United States Forces to the Philippines. The film shows the initial landings at Leyte.
  • Description: View of map held up for camera, with title 'East Indies' (showing SE Asia). A convoy assembles (off Manus in the Admiralty Islands?) prior to the invasion of Leyte. CU of tank landing ship LST 614 with Stars and Stripes flying. Men lean over the side of the ship and their laundry is seen hanging up in the background. Picket boats and other small craft ply to and fro, together with the movement of larger vessels. CU of men on board camera ship. Pan of convoy under way at sea. CU of sailor checking ship's compass. Off shore (presumably Leyte), showing beached LSTs all along the shore line, probably White Beach in the 1st Cavalry Division sector (vicinity of San Jose). Alongside LST 614 with bow doors open, men build sand ramp to bridge gap between shore and ship. A brief shot on board a LCVP looking forward. Filmed from the beach, men (some in swimming trunks, some in full battle dress) continue to dump sandbags into the gap between the ship and beach. Large numbers of men are seen in the background along the beach. The camera pans along a row of beached LSTs and ends with a CU of a seated group of soldiers wearing helmets. A bulldozer completes the gap-filling between the ship and beach by pushing sand to create a bridge. The bulldozer is used to tow from the LST various items of equipment and stores. LST 912 beaches and its bow doors open. William Courtenay seated, reading Esquire magazine (he gestures to the covers, the back one shows a picture of a girl). He slings a full backpack on and puts a jungle hat on his head and walks off towards some trees (carrying a typewriter in his left hand?). Inland, driving through a thick jungle landscape (camera on board the vehicle), a number of trucks and jeeps pass. The makeshift road is very muddy. A linesman lays a communication line through the palm trees. CU signs: 'Destroyed 214' (with a picture of the Rising Sun) and - much larger - 'The Leading Twin Engine Fighter Squadron in the World - Home of the Headhunters 80th Fighter Sqdn.' An area of land adjacent to the beach is being cleared of trees (presumably airfield construction), using bulldozers and trucks. A deserted village. CU of Major General Charles 'Chink' P Hall (commanded XI Corps) outside tent. Pan of tented camp, with fox holes and men seated in group. Unloading metal tracking (for airfield construction) from LST by crane. Major General Charles P Hall strides down to water's edge to watch procedure. View along the beach (LST 912 in the background) showing debris and general activity. DUKW comes ashore. Men in camp washing clothes. Sign on tree: 'CP 2nd BN 534th ENGRS'. Landing craft (LCVPs) moving off shore, one beaches and lowers front ramp. Men at rest in camp, reading and relaxing. DUKW among trees becomes stuck in the mud and is towed out by another. Pan of anchored ships and of landing beach, with flattened trees and debris much in evidence. A DUKW returns to the sea. On board a small vessel, the camera looks back at the receding shoreline. It approaches a Catalina flying boat at anchor. Men are standing on its fuselage and wings. A DUKW departs (presumably dropping Courtenay off on the Catalina). In the air from the aircraft cockpit, views of convoy at anchor and a peninsula in the San Pedro Bay area (?) are clearly shown. Aircraft touches down on jungle runway (from the cockpit). Exterior of Catalina on runway. Brief shot of men showering, at side of runway. Ships at sunset. Nose art (snarling face with teeth) on B-25J Mitchell, P-38 Lightnings (probably 80th Fighter Squadron) lined up on a palm-fringed airstrip in background. P-38s landing on a well-constructed airfield (metal tracked - probably Tanauan, which was completed December 1944). From an aircraft cockpit, views of various islands, making several landings and take-offs in the process. More nose art on parked B-25s with tiger's head prominent on several. LS from the top of a mountainous terrain, looking down on a valley and airfield.
  • Alternative Title: WILLIAM COURTENAY AMATEUR FILMS OF PACIFIC WAR 1943-1946 [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 4385
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1944-10
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Courtenay, William (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 925 ft; Running time: 32 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 4385

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