Gurkha infantry of 63rd Brigade, supported by tanks and aircraft, attack a Japanese position at Payagyi, ten miles north of Pegu near Milestone 60 on the road to Rangoon, capital of Burma.

A wide shot of a large group of infantry (of 1st Battalion, 10th Gurkha Rifles) advancing across an open field towards a treeline. A number of Sherman medium tanks, probably of Probyn's Horse, give support. The infantry seen running across the field, presumably under fire, with a smokescreen providing some limited cover. An Indian soldier passes a burning hut. A burning roof. Two infantrymen, with bayonets fixed, pass a large burning building by the roadside. View of the distant treeline with smoke and the spire of a large pagoda visible. An aircraft, probably an RAF Republic Thunderbolt fighter-bomber, passes low over the open ground. A group of signallers sit with their equipment as a Sherman passes across shot right-to-left. The tank drives towards the treeline with infantry crouching in the grass nearby. A tank firing its coaxial machine gun; a Gurkha in the foreground wipes his brow. A small white cloud of smoke spreading. A tank firing with infantry crouching behind it.

Notes

This action was a preliminary to 17th Indian Division's assault on Pegu, the last major town on the road to Rangoon. The Japanese troops defending Payagyi were part of a composite unit called the Rangoon Defence Force comprising an infantry brigade supplemented by various second- and third-line units such as railwaymen, administrative troops, reservists, etc. Part of this scratch unit fought at Pyinbongyi the previous day, in an action that was also filmed by Sergeant Higgins. See related items.