THE FRONT LINE OF BURMA. GLOUCESTERS IN ACTIONS [Main Title]

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  • Title: THE FRONT LINE OF BURMA. GLOUCESTERS IN ACTIONS [Main Title]
  • Film Number: BAY 253-6
  • Other titles: SEVENTEEN DIVISION ADVANCED HEADQUARTERS, BURMA 30 MARCH 1942 [Allocated Title]
  • Summary: Mute, unedited footage shot by British Paramount News cameraman Maurice Ford in Burma.
  • Description: I. Burma, late March 1942. Men of the 1st Battalion Gloucester Regiment climb into a wooden-sided truck. Shots of the moving truck from another moving vehicle. Troops waving at the camera from the rear of the truck (one making the thumbs-up sign and another the V sign). Close up of troops in the stationary truck, portrait shots of Joe Welwyn, Richard Trenchard, Charlie Phillip, William Bassett and Dennis Sullivan. Portrait shot of Captain Victor Guy Neville Johnston. Shot of a Bren gun carrier with "JAPS DOOM" painted on the exterior. View of Bren gun carrier on the move. Four soldiers get out of the Bren gun carrier, portrait shot of Victor Philatoff. Troops resting by their captured Breda (?) gun in the middle of a tree lined road. Sergeant and soldier standing by a tree, talking and laughing, both smoking pipes. Close up of the captured Breda (?) gun being hauled along the road by the soldiers. II. Burma, probably 24 March 1942. Armoured cars and troops move across field. Mortars are set up on the ground and in the back of the vehicles. Mortars fire. Shots of Lieutenant Christenson giving the order to fire. Various shots of mortars being fired and the shells exploding on target in the distance. III. Burma, 30 March 1942. 17th Division. Brief long shot of an explosion (identified by the cameraman's original dope sheet as the demolition of railway track). Sign "ADV HQ 01". Military motorcycles on road. Long shot of a small group of soldiers (Indian troops?) on the march. Shots of an open air conference, viewed through the stilts of a native building. Shots of the conference of British officers seated on chairs in a circle. Sustained portrait shots of Major General Cowan (two shots). Portrait shots of other members of the conference, Colonel Sammy Woods, Colonel Guy Burton, Major Derek Mostart, Colonel Gerald Thompson, Major William V Harcourt, Colonel Richard Ward, Major Ewart Leask, and Arthur Donald. IV. Burma, 31 March 1942. Troops from the 1st Battalion 4th Gurkhas in a jungle village. Group of Gurkha troops emerging from the jungle with knives and guns at the ready moving toward the camera (staged shot). Mid shot of the group of Gurkhas. Portrait shots of Subedar Podarmbabadur and Kalan Ssing Mandbahadur. Shot of a Gurkha climbing down from a observation position in a tree. Shots of Gurkhas setting up a mortar. Portrait shot of Gurkha rifleman Chhangbaliadur Rana (identified by the cameraman's original dope sheet as no 3413). Close-up of the sign "Chaplain" painted in a car door Portrait shot of Captain N S Metcalfe, Padre of the 7th Hussars Armoured Brigade. View from a following vehicle of a truck full of Indian soldiers driving along a deserted road. View of a Daimler Dingo scout car driving along a road. Medium shot of a pagoda behind trees. Shot of a Stuart (Honey) light tank reversing into the trees. Shot of the partially camouflaged Stuart (Honey) light tank. Long shot of a makeshift pay desk set up by the side of a Daimler Dingo scout car. Close-up shot of a sergeant receiving his pay. Shot of the words "HMS COVENTRY", written on the side of the Daimler Dingo scout car. Soldiers jokingly holding a pair of newly washed socks at arms length and then placing them carefully on an improvised washing line. V. Irrawaddy river, Burma, 1 April 1942. Shots on board a river boat on the Irrawadd. View of passengers seated in the shade. View of the water and of the prow of the boat. Panning shot across the Irrawaddy river. Shots of the passengers, including a British Army officer, disembarking from the boat via a plank. Portrait shot of Captain D Henderson of the 17th Indian Artisans and Works Company. Portrait shots of various Punjabis, most stripped to the waist to work in the water. Several Punjabis pulling large steel cables along the shore line. Various shots of Punjabis working in the water, lashing wood together to form a boom. Punjabi using a large auger to make a hole in a log. View of the boom. Shots of several river boats including Cynthia (noted on the cameraman's dope sheet as a luxurious pleasure craft).
  • Alternative Title: SEVENTEEN DIVISION ADVANCED HEADQUARTERS, BURMA 30 MARCH 1942 [Allocated Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: BAY 253-6
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (BAY 253-6)
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942
  • Production Country:
  • Production Details:
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1180 ft; Running time: 12 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    BAY 253-6

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    NPA 1173 (BRITISH PARAMOUNT NEWS ISSUE 1173 [Main Title])
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