I. 'WOMEN WHO SERVE THE GUNS.' Australian civilian architects (male) orientate themselves from blue prints at a construction site where a modern munitions factory is being built. A train pulled by steam locomotive (3112) arrives at an unidentified Australian station carrying early morning commuters on their way to work. Female munitions workers arriving at work go into a dressing cabin to change from their civilian clothes into custom-built safety uniforms which have been constructed without the use of any metal parts. Internal views of a munitions factory show a large assembly area where 25-pounder artillery shells are stacked on work benches. A female munitions worker unrolls a spool of cordite string, laying it on a table and cutting it to the required length. Female munitions workers carefully pour liquid trinitrotoluene (TNT) into land mine casings and 25-pounder shell casings. A cook is shown carving raw meat in the factory kitchens. A large munitions factory canteen is displayed showing workers enjoying a meal break. Back on the factory floor, female factory workers queue to receive liquid TNT from a large storage vat, dispensed by a male colleague. The commentary stresses the connection between the women munitions workers and the men in the front line stating that both are serving the guns. Stock shots show Australian artillerymen firing field guns at unseen targets (4.5-in Mk 1 field gun and Ordnance QF 18-pounder ?).

II. 'CHRISTMAS CHEER FROM HOME.' British Army personnel walk through a Cairo bazaar shopping for presents to send home for Christmas. A British soldier haggles with stall holder over the price of an ornament, later examining the workmanship of a hand-stitched shawl. Men of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and the Gordon Highlanders browse amongst stalls displaying brass and copper goods (possibly Khan el-Khalili bazaar which specialises in such goods). Following their successful shopping expedition the soldiers climb into a horse drawn carriage, returning to barracks laden with numerous brown paper parcels. Two RASC soldiers visit a ladies hosiery shop having seen a pair of real silk stockings displayed in the shop window. Back at camp, the soldiers wrap presents while sitting on their bunks. The wrapped packages are taken to an Army Post Office building.

III. 'ELEPHANTS PUSH FOR THE WAR EFFORT.' An item that highlights the use of Indian elephants in engineering and forestry works beneficial to the Allied war effort. A Burmese forestry worker uses a hand-axe to cut holes into the trunk of a felled tree (teak ?), chains are then attached, enabling an elephant to drag the log away. An Indian elephant is directed by a Burmese handler (Dahout ?) to move logs using its trunk and tusks. The commentary states that once trained, each elephant can do the work of two to three hundred coolies in a single day. Various views of elephants moving logs follow, including a scene where two elephants work in unison to lift an extremely large tree trunk onto the back of a railway flatcar. Two elephants pull a Ordnance QF Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun up a very steep hill to an emplaced gun position.

IV. 'AROUND THE CLOCK IN STALINGRAD.' Panoramic views show a tented worker's encampment in a shell-damaged part of Stalingrad. Civilian workers indulge in a programme of early morning physical training at the tented encampment before going to their places of work. Students from a local technical college take time from their studies to help in the reconstruction process by hand shaping stone work and rebuilding the walls of their educational establishment. The commentary describes Stalingrad as the graveyard of German hopes over views of a scrapyard filled with hulks of Luftwaffe aircraft which include Messerschmitt Bf 109 wing sections and Junkers Ju 52 fuselage panels. Stock shots show wrecked German soft-skinned vehicles, an abandoned 10.5 cm Panzerhaubitze 18 auf Gw II Wespe self-propelled gun and a light reconnaissance tank (Pz Kpfw II Ausf L Luchs ?). Russian infantry inspect captured German field guns of varying calibres (schwere 10cm Kanone 18, 17 cm Kanone 18 in Mrserlafette ?). A Russian infantryman inspects captured German artillery and tank ammunition, writing down the various shell diameters in a note book. Russian infantry manhandle a captured German Nebelwerfer rocket launcher (21cm Nebelwerfer 42 ?) onto a railway flatcar. Stock shots show a Russian train carrying captured German PzKpfw III tanks and a Marder III Ausf H (front-mounted gun, rear-mounted engine) tank destroyer. The anti-aircraft defences of Stalingrad prepare for Luftwaffe night raiders. Sound location equipment is manned as dusk falls. A large diameter searchlight is raised and traversed and a 137mm Zenitnaya Pushka obr 1939g anti-aircraft gun is loaded. Stock shots show an anti-aircraft barrage at night and the simulated destruction of a German aircraft (studio model).

Notes

Associated material: items I and III are repeated at WPN 288