8TH INDIAN DIVISION AND THE CAPTURE OF MONTONE, ITALY [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: 8TH INDIAN DIVISION AND THE CAPTURE OF MONTONE, ITALY [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MWY 35
  • Other titles: INDIAN INTER-SERVICE PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTORATE COLLECTION - INDIAN HOME FRONT AND MILITARY OPERATIONS, AND ALLIED OPERATIONS IN ITALY AND THE PACIFIC DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: As 8th Indian Division advances through Italy's Umbria region to capture the town of Montone, German prisoners are marched away, an Italian Army mule train carries supplies, tanks move up and the spotter aircraft of RAF 654 Squadron land nearby.
  • Description: [10:04:25:02] Reel 1: A party of German prisoners are brought in under guard by British soldiers. Troops walking down a hillside which is covered in waist-high wheat. A brief interior shot showing a PIAT anti-tank weapon being fired through a window. Troops moving through a bomb-damaged town. A soldier, lying prone on a road surface strewn with bricks, fires a PIAT before scrambling to his feet. British troops running down a road; the cameraman follows. Slightly out of focus shot of British troops emerging from bushes. Indian (?) troops moving through a field dotted with small trees; in the foreground a large patch of heavily rutted earth. A hillside in the distance under shellfire with troops sitting by a hedgerow in the foreground. Troops marching along a road; a lorry passes. Heavily laden Indian troops marching through a field; one has a mortar ammunition case, another a PIAT, and another a two-inch mortar. Others carry spades, pick axes, or stretchers. Wide shot road leading to a hill in the distance with troops on the march. A turretless, open-topped light tank passes camera and turns off the road into the field with rutted ground. The vehicle drives off. A group of Indian (Viceroy’s Commissioned?) officers in discussion over a map. Troops walking in the field. Close-up feet walking on broken ground. A group gathered around a casualty on a stretcher. Wide shot, looking towards two hillsides in the distance; there are large buildings on the tops of both hills. An armoured vehicle in the field below the cameraman’s position. The hillside buildings come under fire. A Sherman medium tank rolls towards camera. View from the turret of a Sherman with another following behind. A British officer sitting on the tank and leaning on the gun barrel as the tank drives through a corn field. Indian troops advance with bayonets fixed through a corn field towards a number of buildings (the outskirts of a town or village?). Smoke rising in the distance. Another party of German prisoners is escorted towards camera by Indian and British soldiers. [10:10:06:16] [10:10:24:24] Reel 2: At a roadside, Indian stretcherbearers arrive and carry away a casualty. The bearers arrive at an ambulance. A Sherman tank passes; painted on its right front hull is a small horse. A Sherman passes, framed by the gun barrel of another. A Sherman crests a hill. A Sherman driving towards camera. Indian troops silhouetted against the sky. Climbing a road embankment up onto a hillside; Indian troops smile for the camera. More soldiers pass. Out of focus close-up Indian soldier. View across a valley. An Indian soldier, obscured by foliage, digs at the embankment with his entrenching tool. A mule train passes through a damaged town; the muleteers appear to be Italian Army ‘Alpini’ (peaked hats with feathers) with white horn insignia on their upper arms. The mule train passes a shattered building. Wide shot of the landscape, with neat lines of trees. Wide shot; in the foreground a small tent or bivouac and behind a battery of 25-pounder field guns. Views of the guns firing. Another group of German prisoners are escorted through the town. Indian troops march down a road, including a group of signallers. Soldiers pass; the depth of field is a bit shallow and so the troops are only in focus close to camera. Troops run past. Indian troops lying prone on a hillside. Medium close-up. Stretcher bearers pass. A section of very dark footage. Wide shot with smoke drifting in the distance. In a town an abandoned German MG-34 machine gun and ammunition tin [from this point the footage suffers from a slight but noticeable degree of ‘print weave’ distortion]. Soldiers running uphill along a narrow street. Running feet. A window which has been hit by fire; the adjoining wall has caved in. Stretcher bearers, moving with obviously caution (they glance upwards). A soldier with a pistol at a window [print weave no longer noticeable]. Soldiers pass a destroyed lorry. Marching feet on a dusty road. Wide shot; a grove of trees with smoke rising beyond. A group of German soldiers at the roadside with Indian troops standing guard. Germans smile for the camera. An Indian soldier chats with the Germans. A German drinks something from a tin. Brief shot; the prisoners move to board a lorry. [10:19:00:06] [10:19:20:00] Reel 3: Slightly out of focus shot of a Royal Air Force Taylorcraft Auster light aircraft, QD:11, serial NJ8xx of RAF 654 Squadron. The aircraft under a camouflage net. Short section of aerial footage; the aircraft takes off. Back on the ground a man removes camouflage netting. Another aircraft, QC:5, takes off, in the foreground an Indian photographer. Aircraft overhead. An Indian (?) pilot boards a plane. Starting up. The plane rolls forward (aircraft is QD:11, as seen earlier). [10:21:01:22 ]
  • Alternative Title: INDIAN INTER-SERVICE PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTORATE COLLECTION - INDIAN HOME FRONT AND MILITARY OPERATIONS, AND ALLIED OPERATIONS IN ITALY AND THE PACIFIC DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MWY 35
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-07-14
  • Production Country: India
  • Production Details: Public Relations Directorate, India (Production sponsor) Indian Public Relations Film Unit (Production company) Walker (Sergeant) (Production individual) Beauchamp, Antony19181957 (Production individual) Back (Sergeant) (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army, 8th Army (regiment/service) Indian Army, 8th Indian Division (regiment/service) Royal Air Force, 654 Squadron (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Italy 1939-1945 (theme) Indian Army 1939-1945 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1540 ft; Running time: 16 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MWY 35

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