BATTLE OF IMPHAL [Allocated Title]

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Media files

  • Title: BATTLE OF IMPHAL [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MWY 21
  • 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: Footage from the Battle of Imphal in Manipur state, India, with scenes of tanks firing against enemy positions, artillery fire, Indian and Japanese wounded, air evacuation of casualties and dead Japanese.
  • Description: Landscape shots showing the ruggedness of the terrain. Aerial view of road with motor transport. Two Stuart ('Honey') light tanks (possibly of 7th Light Cavalry) drive along a road passing a line of mules being walked along the roadside. Lorries of various types and a motorcycle despatch rider drive along a dusty road. More views of motor transport. A Lee medium tank (of 254th Indian Tank Brigade) with Sikh troops. A dusty hillside road with a parked Universal carrier. A Universal carrier passes camera at speed, slews into a right hand turn and disappears around a bend. A mule train walks along a ridge above the camera. A Lee passes another on the road; a number of infantry are riding on its rear hull. Sikh infantry pass a tank; others lie prone on the edge of the road. Infantry pass. Pan from parked tank to prone infantry to smoke on the opposite hillside. Infantry and parked tanks. A Lee drives past. Two parked Lees fire their main guns against the opposite hillside with coverage from various angles. Tank commander standing in his turret. Tank commander in his turret speaking on radio. Tank commander with binoculars. Smoke over a ridge in the middle distance. Series of shots of tanks firing at the hillside. Wide shot showing vehicles driving along a road past a hillside covered in smoke. Wide shot with a hut in the foreground and smoke, possibly from a smoke shell or mortar bomb, on a hillside in the background. The smokescreen spreads before dissipating. A cloud of dust rises on the hillside (from a shell?). Medium close-up of a gunlayer adjusting the sights of an Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Mountain Howitzer. Views of the gun being fired, of smoke or dust rising from an impact in the distance, and of the battery position. Sikh infantrymen carry a stretcher along a hillside road, probably the same as seen earlier. The stretcher is carefully carried around a tank which is blocking the road; the wounded man's long hair mark him out as a Sikh and he is obviously in some distress. A wounded soldier is helped along by another. A Lee halts on the road. More Sikh troops carrying a stretcher. Footage, probably taken from a Stinson Sentinel light aircraft or similar, showing another light aircraft taking off. Aerial footage showing light aircraft in flight with views of the terrain. Brief air-to-air view of a light aircraft, probably a United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Stinson L1 Vigilant ambulance. A wounded Indian soldier has his arm bandaged. Wounded are put aboard an ambulance. A USAAF Stinson Sentinel landing, followed by a Vigilant. Parked ambulance with Vigilant. A wounded soldier on a stretcher (a Gurkha?) is put aboard the aircraft. Views of aircraft taking off. Wide shot and medium close-up of Sikh troops entering a gully. Indian troops emerge from undergrowth and walk amongst Japanese dead; the leading soldier has a Thompson submachine gun. More Japanese dead. An Indian soldier removes a Japanese light machine gun (probably Type 96) from a bunker. A wounded Japanese soldier has a leg wound dressed by a Indian soldier while another gives him water. Medium close-up of the Japanese soldier; he covers his face with his arm. Another Japanese soldier on a stretcher, badly wounded, has a strip of cloth placed over his eyes. Four Indian stretcherbearers carry a stretcher. Troops search the bodies of dead Japanese. Scenes of wooden huts in flames. A line of parked jeeps, some scantily camouflaged with foliage. A Universal carrier passes at speed. Another Universal carrier passes. A jeep passes followed by a Stuart light tank. Ambulances pass.
  • 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: Yes
  • Object_Number: MWY 21
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-04-07
  • Production Country: India
  • Production Details: Public Relations Directorate, India (Production sponsor) Indian Public Relations Film Unit (Production company) Beauchamp, Antony19181957 (Production individual) Heyne, S (Production individual) Blakey, D R (Production individual) Walker, D C (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: IMPERIAL JAPANESE ARMY (regiment/service) Indian Army (regiment/service) Indian Army, 254th Indian Tank Brigade (regiment/service) Indian Army, 20th Indian Division (regiment/service) British Army, Royal Artillery, 114th Field Regiment (regiment/service) Bostock, Frank (person) United States Army Air Forces (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Imphal, Manipur, India (geography) Imphal 1944, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Air evacuation of casualties, Air operations over Burma, Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) British Army 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: 1352 ft (approx); Running time: 15:01 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MWY 21

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    19870 ()
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