Reel 1: At Maymyo (Pyin U Lwin) a quantity of captured Japanese biscuits are distributed to refugees. Shots of biscuits being distributed and of children eating them. A man uses a machete to open a crate (with Japanese markings) containing more tins of biscuits. A group of refugee children receive physical training (PT) instruction from a young female instructor. The group do calisthenics. The instructor corrects the posture of a number of children.. The children attempt handstands with a comically mixed degree of success. A group of young girls run towards the camera before ducking out of shot. The class is dismissed. More attempts at handstands.

Reel 2: At a CAS(B) labour camp at Meiktila a group of young children receive a reading lesson from a young Burmese woman who had been studying education in Rangoon before the war. The teacher stands at a blackboard with letters of the Burmese alphabet chalked on it. A small boy is invited to step forward and read out the letters. Close-ups of the class show they are a mixed class of girls and boys and probably no more than 5 or 6 years old. At Shwebo a procession of bullock carts brings rice to a mill. Black smoke billows from a chimney. A man standing on the cart fills baskets with rice. Women carry the baskets on their heads into a mill. Milled rice is scooped up in a tin and women carry it away. Each carries a sack, again balanced on their heads. A view from a high vantage point shows a line of women carrying their sacks towards a small river boat on the Irrawaddy. Women going aboard; a wrecked river steamer, possibly of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, can be seen beached in the background. A close-up shows feet stepping along a gangplank onto the boat and a woman can be seen going aboard in the water's reflection. The sacks of rice are emptied into a large basket on board the boat. A sign reads 'CAS (Supplies) - Kyaukmyaung'. A number of bullock carts arrive at a large building, apparently a granary, set on stilts. Sacks are unloaded and rice poured out into a large basket.

Film showing various activities of the Civil Affairs Service (Burma) (CAS(B)) including provision of education services and food distribution at Meiktila, Shwebo and Maymyo (Pyin U Lwin).

Notes

While this film has obvious propaganda value, it also illustrates some of the ethnic variety of Burma's population. The children at Maymyo in Reel 1 are listed on the dopesheet as being of Anglo-Burmese, Anglo-Indian, Burmese, Karen and Chin parentage, and some of this variety is clearly visible in the class of children. This ethnic and cultural variety, partly pre-existing and partly the result of British/Indian colonial administration, has resulted in deep social divisions that continue to be important today.

The wrecked river steamer helps relate this film to the conflict which led to the economic and social dislocation the CAS were seeking to remedy. Burma's rivercraft, many of them operated by the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, were an important part of the national economy and were deliberately wrecked, in order to deny them to the Japanese, as the British withdrew. They then became a priority target for Allied air attack, before being again deliberately sabotaged by the retreating Japanese.

For other British Army (JFU-series) and RAF (ABY-series) film relating to CAS activities in Burma, see related items.