LIEUTENANT-GENERAL ROBERTS ADDRESSES FREED PRISONERS OF WAR; MASS SURRENDER OF JAPANESE AT KUALA LUMPUR (14/9/1945)

This film is held by the Imperial War Museum (ID: JFU 373).

Synopsis

Wide shot showing Lieutenant-General Roberts' staff car arriving outside the Suleiman Building in Kuala Lumpur. He meets the officer commanding. Troops on parade. He meets the senior medical officer, possibly wearing 'IMS' (Indian Medical Service') shoulder title. Roberts shaking hands with an Indian soldier. Meeting troops. Close-up of troops. High shot of troops; camera pans to show other troops sitting on the ground. Roberts speaking to an Indian soldier wearing a bush hat. Close-up of a red cross patch. Roberts shakes hands with an officer wearing the patch. Roberts addressing a crowd of seated troops. They applaud before standing up as one to salute. They give Roberts three cheers. At a hospital Roberts meets a captain of the Indian Medical Service. Indian patients, possibly suffering from malnutrition, eating at a long table; Roberts speaks to them.

At Kuala Lumpur airfield a Union flag is flying and there are abandoned Japanese fighter aircraft and Allied troops in the midground. In the distance a huge crowd of surrendered Japanese personnel can be seen. Indian troops watch the crowd. Stacks of Japanese helmets, some with camouflage netting. Three bugles. Japanese signalling equipment, apparently including a hand-operated air raid siren, and an Indian soldier takes a record off a gramophone. A large number of machine guns of various types, including some British (presumably .303-calibre) Browning medium machine guns, Vickers Ks and Bren light machine guns and Japanese types; pan to more machine guns and ammunition boxes. A number of revolvers in holsters; camera moves to bundles of rifles tied together. A captain with 'Punjab' shoulder title, and a Sikh lieutenant wearing a turban, examine Japanese swords. Wide shot showing heaps of assorted equipment. Two Japanese, one an officer and the other possibly an interpreter, run across the airfield towards a waiting party of officers led by Brigadier Bernard Gerty, commander of 53rd Indian Brigade. The Japanese officer hands over an inventory of the surrendered Japanese arms. Line of Japanese officers being hurried across the field at the double. A shadow cast by an Indian soldier with a levelled rifle and bayonet; camera tilts up to show Japanese officers surrendering their swords. More officers lay down their swords. A procession of officers surrendering swords. Shot of swords being laid down with a bayonet entering the bottom of frame. An increasingly large area is covered in hundreds of surrendered swords. The commander of 25th Indian Division, Major-General George Wood, inspects the haul of surrendered equipment. Swords are gathered up and loaded unceremoniously into the back of a lorry. Guards along a line of Japanese.

At Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, the commander of XXXIV Indian Corps Lieutenant-General Ouvry Roberts meets released Allied prisoners of war, and at a airfield nearby thousands of Japanese troops surrender their arms.

Notes

The group of prisoners seen in the first part of this film was apparently 1152 strong, some of whom had been in captivity for 3 years. The Japanese forces seen surrendering were some 6,000 strong.

The surrender of swords was considered to be an important step in the demilitarisation of Japan, and made more important by the ignominious loss of Malaya in 1942.

 

Titles

  • LIEUTENANT-GENERAL ROBERTS ADDRESSES FREED PRISONERS OF WAR; MASS SURRENDER OF JAPANESE AT KUALA LUMPUR (14/9/1945) (Allocated)
Series Title:
BRITISH ARMY OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR
 

Technical Data

Year:
1945
Running Time:
6 minutes
Film Gauge (Format):
35mm
Colour:
B&W
Sound:
Silent
Footage:
470 ft
 

Production Credits

Production Countries:
GB
Sponsor
War Office Directorate of Public Relations
cameraman.
Govan, H W (Sergeant)
Production company
SEAC Film Unit
 

Countries

 

Production Organisations