MOUNTBATTEN VISITS MYITKYINA BATTLEFIELD [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: MOUNTBATTEN VISITS MYITKYINA BATTLEFIELD [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MWY 205
  • 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: Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, visits the battlefield of Myitkyina, in northern Burma, taken by Chinese and American forces a month before.
  • Description: At Imphal; low-angle medium shot of Gurkha troops of 3rd Battalion, 8th Gurkha Rifles (20th Indian Division). Wider shot showing Gurkhas lining the road and Mountbatten inspecting them. Mountbatten, with an entourage of Chinese and Americans (including a Tommy gun-toting Military Policeman), goes to see the wreckage of rolling stock on the Myitkyina-Mandalay railway line. Short pan of derailed wagons. Mountbatten meeting Lieutenant-Colonel Dr Gordon Seagrave at his missionary hospital at Myitkyina. Entering the hospital. Mountbatten meets two female Burmese nurses seated at a table with microscopes. Mountbatten and entourage back at the railway line. Looking back at Mountbatten and others aboard a jeep train on the railway line. The cameraman, onboard the leading jeep, films as his jeep passes through a somewhat shanty-looking Chinese Army camp along the railway line. Looking back at Mountbatten’s jeep behind, passing through the camp. As the jeep runs along the track Chinese troops, some carrying heavy loads, dart out the way of the oncoming jeep. A column of Chinese troops, evidently marching along the line, clear out of the way. Looking back at troops at the trackside. Looking up at aircraft in the distance. More troops clear the track. Aerial views looking down on the airstrip at Myitkyina, with low drifting cloud. Mountbatten on airstrip at Myitkyina, being met by Brigadier General Lewis A Pick (probably the thick-set officer in steel helmet) and Major John Jones, American aide de camp. Mountbatten’s aircraft is an RAF Dakota serial FL510. Mountbatten talking to Chinese Lieutenant-General Sun and walking to jeep. Mountbatten in jeep (with British and American pennants) with Sun and Pick; it drives away. Mountbatten with Sun in the ruins of Myitkyina; a very fast pan to a tiered pagoda. Small buildings in Myitkyina. More footage from the jeep train, including a spectacular shot showing a Dakota making a low pass over Mountbatten’s jeep, growing from a small speck in the distance. At a rail yard, showing the jeep train next to a wagon that has been entirely destroyed down to its bogeys. Passing a Chinese mule train by the side of the track. Chinese troops riding three elephants two of them somewhat smaller (juveniles?).
  • 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 205
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-09-06
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • Production Details: SEAC Photo Unit (US) (Production company) Widmayer, WilliamCombat cameraman with SEAC Photo Unit (US). (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Northern Combat Area Command (regiment/service) Mountbatten, Louis (person) Mountbatten, Louis (Earl) Mountbatten, Louis (Earl) (person) Pick, Lewis Andrew (person) Sun, Li-jen (person) Indian Army, 8th Gurkha Rifles, 3rd Battalion (regiment/service) Chinese Army, New First Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Operations in Northern Burma 1943-1945, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Myitkyina, Burma (geography) Imphal, Manipur, India (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 408 ft; Running time: 5 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MWY 205

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