BALUCHS AND SIKHS CLEAR A VILLAGE NEAR SHWEBO [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: BALUCHS AND SIKHS CLEAR A VILLAGE NEAR SHWEBO [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MWY 73
  • 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: After the fall of the city of Shwebo in central Burma, two infantry battalions of 19th Indian Division clear the village of Nwagalegon (Nwagale Gaon?).
  • Description: Indian troops advancing through open ground and low scrub.Troops hurrying across open ground. A Burmese soldier with a British officer Major Baker, speaking to local people coming from Shwebo. A British company commander goes forward towards a railway line and looks through binoculars. The company commander sends for his platoon commanders, who join him at the railway line. He points out his intentions on a map, with close-up. 'Shwebo' and the names of several villages (Mingon, Nwagalegon) are marked, as is an airfield to the north-east of Shwebo. Briefly out of focus shot, soon corrected, of an Indian platoon commander briefing his men. Kneeling Indian troops; they go forward. A British officer supervises the set up of an observation post. Several shots of the observation post; one man is using a rangefinder. Setting up Vickers machine guns (various angles). Indian soldier uses a clinometer to check the gun's elevation. Using rangefinder. More ammunition is brought up. Wide shot of troops advancing across an open field (away from camera). Two soldiers, behind a low bank, cock their rifles. More troops come up across open ground, towards camera. Troops hasten into the cover of a hedgerow. Out of focus footage, showing troops advancing through a village in bright sunshine. A Bren gunner and a rifleman firing, close to a river. The Bren gunner changes magazines, but not smoothly. Two shots of men firing their rifles; both appear to have problems with their rifles failing to extract cartridge cases properly. Out of focus; three men (Bren gunner and two riflemen) advance into a village. They encounter a dead Japanese soldier with a sword. Indian soldier unsheaths the sword (focus soft). The Japanese corpse. Soldiers advancing cautiously through the village. The troops encounter the rear entrance of a Japanese bunker and one soldier (frame left) appears to drop a hand grenade into it. The bunker entrance with dust or smoke rising, into a shaft of sunlight. A soldier goes to clear the bunker but has trouble getting through the entrance. He stands up, having apparently retrieved some small objects of Japanese equipment.
  • 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 73
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-01-13
  • Production Country: India
  • Production Details: Public Relations Directorate, India (Production sponsor) Indian Public Relations Film Unit (Production company) Singh, G (Jemadar) (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Indian Army, 19th Indian Division (regiment/service) Indian Army, 11th Sikh Regiment, Machine Gun Battalion (regiment/service) Indian Army, 10th Baluch Regiment, 5th Battalion (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Shwebo, Burma (geography) Shwebo 1945, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) 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: 545 ft; Running time: 7 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MWY 73

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