RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES PART 2 - WITH 1st US CAVALRY DIVISION AT LUZON JANUARY 1945 [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES PART 2 - WITH 1st US CAVALRY DIVISION AT LUZON JANUARY 1945 [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 4386
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY WILLIAM COURTENAY [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: The return of United States Forces to the Philippines. The film shows the preparations for and landings at Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945 and later scenes in war-damaged Manila.
  • Description: Air-to-ground shots of islands and sea. Naval ships at anchor in a large bay. Airfield seen from the cockpit, as aircraft comes into land on a large compacted dirt runway. Well-established church, with US flag flying in military cemetery containing a large number of new-looking graves. Cut to a very busy airfield showing a Catalina taxi-ing (without floats), vehicles moving along runway edge and C47s parked. A wide dirt road through secondary jungle with numbers of US army jeeps and trucks moving along it. Sign reading 'Momote Road' and US soldier giving directions to moving traffic (the location for this, the following scenes and departure of the invasion fleet is probably Morotai in the Moluccas Islands, although could possibly be Los Negros/Manus in the Admiralty Islands). Well-established buildings set in secondary jungle, with painted signs eg 'Cavalry Club', 'Barber shop', 'A.N.G.A.U' (presumably this stands for Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit, but its location would indicate some kind of joke) and 'Grand Hotel'. Sign outside building ' Commanding General', 'Chief of Staff', 'Aide de Camp'. Major General Verne D Mudge - commanding 1st Cavalry Division - exits hut with two colleagues (Mudge on right). CU of Mudge. Infantry in battlegear on trucks laughing and joking, others standing around, including a US soldier of Japanese extraction (nisei?). Stationary Sherman M4 tanks with various names eg 'Corregidor' and 'Klankin Koffin'. Large numbers of ships at anchor (several are dazzle painted), with many others moving to and fro - LCTs, Light Fleet Carriers («USS Langley» «CVL27» is but one), destroyers etc. Camera on board LCI looks towards tree lined shore. On board ship (probably a LCT), showing soldiers - many stripped to the waist - cleaning rifles, Oerlikon 20mm ack ack, with equipment and vehicles closely packed together. Convoy at sea. William Courtenay in battledress talks to two young ratings. Tracer fire towards silhouetted aircraft. Ship -to-ship signaling. Large fleet at sea. LS of land under heavy barrage from ships. Flashes seen from ships firing, as LVT (Water Buffalo) assault craft assemble at sea (one with the name 'Any Questions?'). LS small craft silhouetted against land, with black smoke rising from shore and ack-ack visible in the sky. MCU as LVTs race towards shore, with camera on board accompanying LVT (flying red flag with white diagonal cross - presumably US Navy signal flag no. 4?). Long plumes of smoke and fire are seen rising from shore, as numerous craft approach. Men are already ashore, as craft lands on a tree-lined beach. LVT 'Horse Thief' reverses into the sea. Armed men take up various defensive positions on the beach. [19 mins in from start until 27 mins all out of focus and/or poorly framed. Brackets [ ] denote extent of this material: Activity on beachead - movement of equipment, men and stretchers; Stars and Stripes hangs limply from pole on beach; US Navy signal flag no.4 raised (with triangular flag having black line from apex to base attached - denoting absence of commanding officer?); General MacArthur and probably General Walter Krueger (commanding 6th Army); William Courtenay; Philippino refugees; Manila, MacArthur and President Sergio Osmeña (Osmena) of the Philippines (?) enter a building; formal raising of the Stars and Stripes; damaged building; wounded on stretchers; civilians and villages; military trucks; destroyed US aircraft on side of runway, by the sea edge; muddy roads]. A parked Stinson Sentinel. Several P-38 Lightings land in succession on a compacted dirt runway.William Courtenay in shorts talks to a pilot. A temporary hospital and men on stretchers. Local people on the move along muddy roads. Views of village houses. A C47 lands on a metal tracked runway. Camera on board aircraft as it takes off. Good air-to-air shot of C47 flying alongside (has 'Tokyo Trolley' on fuselage). Manila in ruins, showing extensive damage to City Hall (erected 1930) and other, what were once grand, official buildings, churches, bridges and housing; Philippino and US flags at half mast (possibly official mourning for President Roosevelt, who died 12 April 1945); a sequence showing the burnt out shells of several tram carriages and that of a US Sherman M4 tank; more ruins of housing and churches, with children playing in the street; William Courtenay driving a horse and buggy; a US Military Policeman poses seated for the camera with a cigarette. The American comedian, Joe E Brown, entertains a large audience of US service personnel who are seated in the open in a large street or square.
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY WILLIAM COURTENAY [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 4386
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1944-12 1945-01
  • 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: 1764 ft; Running time: 47 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 4386

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