WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 197 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 197 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: WPN 197
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "War Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
  • Description: I. 'BRIDGE TO VICTORY.' Bailey Bridge panel sections are loaded onto a London Midlands Scottish (LMS) goods car. Footage taken in the interior of a steelworks manufacturing Bailey Bridge parts shows a female factory worker cutting steel girders with a circular saw. A woman factory worker drills rivet holes as her colleague constructs a bridge panel at a workbench using a jig. Completed Bailey panels are loaded into a waiting LMS railway car. Extended footage shows men of the British Eighth Army constructing a Bailey Bridge over an Italian defile with good views of roller assembly and king pin insertion procedures. Stock-shots show Bailey Bridge construction in Greece and Burma. Indian troops roll pontoon boats into the Chindwin River. Bailey Bridge sections are floated to mid-stream during the construction process. General Sir William Slim (Commander British Fourteenth Army) visits the newly completed Chindwin River Bailey Bridge. II. 'ATHENS.' A British Army Scottish Regimental pipe band entertains Greek civilians who have gathered in Constitution Square in Athens to celebrate liberation. Extended film footage shows the pipe band playing and marching. Thousands of Greek civilians hold Allied Flags and placards, one of which reads "English, Greece is grateful to you - EAS." III. 'ROAD TO MANDALAY.' United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft drop supplies at low-level to waiting British Fourteenth Army troops. Burmese civilians help British troops collect the dispersed supplies following the drop. Grain sacks and other supplies are loaded onto a pack of mules for the difficult delivery journey to men fighting in the jungle front lines. A British mule-train is moved across a partially completed log bridge. Mules are forced to swim behind rubber boats during a river crossing; the animals acting as a form of outboard motor for the boats. A Johnson Seahorse outboard motor is attached to the stern of a native canoe. A large cargo raft negotiates a fast flowing river using three Johnson Seahorse motors for propulsion. British Fourteenth Army troops wade across a shallow watercourse carrying Sten 9mm sub-machine guns and Lee-Enfield Mk III .303-inch rifles.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: WPN 197
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-02-12
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor) War Pictorial News (Production company) Martin, Charles (Production individual) Keating, Rex1910-02-142005-01British newsreel commentator, WW2 period (Production cast)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Slim, William Joseph (person)
  • Keywords: industry, British - general (object name) engineering, military, British (object name) celebrations, Greek - event-related: truce agreement (object name) animals, mammals: mule (object name) operations, British military - movement: march (object name) supplies, British, movement [RA] - misc (object name) Chindwin (River), Burma (geography) Italy (geography) Greece & Athens, Central Greece <Constitution Square> (geography) Burma (geography) jungle (concept)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: Arabic
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 923 ft; Running time: 10 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    WPN 197

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