Prisoners, captured during a recent breakout operation by the Japanese 28th Army, are seen arriving at 17th Indian Division's headquarters at Penwegon, Burma, along with a group of Chinese 'comfort girls' freed from the Japanese.

A British corporal (a military policeman?) drives a jeep carrying five Chinese 'comfort girls'. They arrive at 17th Division HQ and get out. Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) arriving. Each POW is searched. POWs bathing in oil drums; they wash themselves while a British soldier dowses them with water. More footage of POWs washing. The 'comfort girls' are interrogated. A Japanese POW, barefoot and leaning on a stick, walking slowly. POWs entering a wood and wire POW cage. Two POWs walking painfully slowly with sticks. Four POWs eating; they squat on the ground and eat (rice?) from a box. A Japanese-speaking British officer talks with a Japanese POW. The POW bows his head. POWs file off to waiting trucks. POWs walking with aid of sticks. A POW, smoking a cigarette, is helped along by another.

Notes

By this point in the war in Burma the Japanese Army's supporting services had collapsed, leaving many soldiers without reliable food supplies or medical services. With large numbers of troops being forced into the hills in the face of the Allied advance in 1945, the physical condition of many Japanese soldiers deteriorated rapidly. During July 1945 the Japanese Army attempted to break through Allied lines and escape into Thailand; 11,500 were killed and some 660 captured.

The 'comfort girls' were forcibly recruited throughout the Japanese occupied territories to work in Army brothels.

Additional coverage by Sergeant Hewit. For this, and of footage of the battle in which these men were captured, see related items.