NEPALESE CONTINGENT HOME AFTER SIX YEARS IN INDIA [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: NEPALESE CONTINGENT HOME AFTER SIX YEARS IN INDIA [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: JIN 154
  • Other titles: INDIAN ARMY OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: After six years' service in India on internal security duties, troops of the Bhairab Nath battalion of the Nepalese Army return to Kathmandu.
  • Description: Reel 1: At a railway halt a number of Nepalese troops step down from a train onto a platform; there is bright sunshine and the film is somewhat blown out. Troops pass with their baggage. Coming up a ramp towards camera. Troops pass camera. Troops dump their kit by a metal fence. Neatly piled kit along the fence. Piled arms and equipment. Shot from moving train looking towards the locomotive (rounding a bend). Looking back along the train. Two soldiers (officers?) in conversation. The train approaches a halt; a footbridge over the tracks is decorated with Allied (Chinese, American, Soviet, French, British) flags. Senior officers arrive at the station. Major-General Subarao Shamsher (?) talks with the British supervising officer of the contingent. Other Nepalese officers and Shamsher. Looking down as troops leave the railway halt carrying their baggage. Troops passing. Looking up at passing troops. Troops put down their baggage again. Two shots panning with troops passing with baggage; the camera settles on an entranceway in a brick wall. Troops boarding a train. Closer shot. Nepalese officers, and a British officer. Sign; ‘Birganj’. Smoke from the engine’s funnel. The engine’s wheels start to turn; the locomotive is marked ‘N G R’ (probably Nepal Government Railway) and ‘Mahabir’ (?). Train moving off. On board an open wagon carrying troops; the train drives through thick forest in bright sunshine. Shots of Nepalese troops. The troops dismount at Amlekhganj. Sign; ‘Amlekhganj’. Alternative angle of a sign for Amlekhganj; in the background someone appears to be playing on a swing. The troops board lorries of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps for onward travel. Troops board lorries. Closing tailboard of a lorry. Lorry drives away. Wide shot shows a lorry crossing a small bridge; more lorries follow it. Closer shot lorry passing into a tunnel. [570 ft] Reel 2: Men dismounting from lorries. Men climbing a steep, rocky path. Men climbing; civilians watch them climb and some of the troops play up to the camera. Looking up the steep hillside with men climbing the track. Spectacular landscape shot with two men foreground and rolling hills and valleys stretching into the distance. Landscape pan. At a village local people dance and play drums for the camera. Wide shot; troops in the street outside a house and the grassy hillside rises steeply behind. Closer shot; the troops drink tea at one of the houses in the village. Soldier (officer?) drinking tea from a saucer. Men passing. Column of troops marching off into the hills. Troops marching. Troops march towards, and pass either side of the camera; some may be singing. Troops in a village (frame slightly obscured) and continuing single-file along a narrow track. Kathmandu (?) in the distance. Troops about to march off on the last leg of their journey. Troops marching towards camera. Troops passing. Column of troops going down hill. More troops pass. Marching on a road through flat paddy fields. Seen from the back of a crowd; as the troops enter the town they are greeted with a rifle salute, and a band and a detachment of lancers lead them in. Passing through an archway decorated with portraits (of Nepalese monarchs?). Troops marching through the street with crowds and bunting; people watch from windows. Troops passing a crowd watching from the tiered steps of a temple (?). More troops marching. The Maharaja of Nepal, Juddha Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, salutes the troops from the back of his elephant. Troops passing; pan to the Maharaja and his elephant. The Maharaja, riding on his elephant, heads a column of cavalry and infantry. Pan of the spectating crowd. People watching from balconies. The Maharaja and entourage with troops on parade before him. An officer introduces a subordinate (the men wear ‘BN’ epaulettes).
  • Alternative Title: INDIAN ARMY OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: JIN 154
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-10-13
  • Production Country: India
  • Production Details: Public Relations Directorate, India (Production sponsor) Indian Public Relations Film Unit (Production company) Thapa, N S (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Nepalese Army, Bhairab Nath Battalion (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Kathmandu, Nepal (geography) Indian Army 1939-1945 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 2 Footage: 1227 ft; Running time: 14 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    JIN 154

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