WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 202 (19/3/1945)

This film is held by the Imperial War Museum (ID: WPN 202).

Synopsis

I. 'KING FAROUK VISITS BRITISH NAVY.' King Farouk of Egypt visits the Royal Navy (RN) escort carrier HMS Hunter and is shown talking to an unidentified RN Admiral. King Farouk is accompanied by a Royal Egyptian Navy (REN) Yuzbashi/Youzbashi (Lieutenant) as he inspects a twin 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft position. King Farouk and an unidentified REN Kabir Omara Elbehar (Admiral) watch RN flightdeck ratings manhandle a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Supermarine Seafire (Mk III ?) fighter aircraft across the deck. FAA Seafires take off from HMS Hunter and are later shown overflying the ship in squadron formation. King Farouk is shown leaving by tender at the conclusion of his visit.

II. 'BURMA.' British Fourteenth Army infantry set up a captured Japanese 75mm pack howitzer and a Vickers .303-inch heavy machine gun on a jungle trail. British troops calibrate a 3-inch mortar. A British Ordnance 25-pounder howitzer fires from open ground. South East Asia Command (SEAC) P-47 Thunderbolts overfly rugged terrain at high altitude. British infantry move in line along a mountain track. A British Ordnance 25-pounder howitzer fires from the cover of camouflage netting. British infantry move through the jungle carrying Lee-Enfield .303-inch rifles and M1 Thompson .45-inch sub-machine guns. British infantry examine captured Japanese weapons including an officer's sword and Arisaka 6.5mm rifle (Meiji 38 ?). Wounded British soldiers are carried to a field dressing station on stretchers. The interior of a tent shows an operating area with a blood-plasma drip hanging on the main support pole of the tent. British infantry men congregate for a short burial service in the jungle close to Japanese lines. United States (US) Army soft-skins cross a pontoon bridge over the Irrawaddy River. US Brigadier General Lewis A Pick is shown sitting in a Willys Jeep. US soft-skins tow covered 105mm howitzers along a dusty road. A US Staff sergeant cooks tinned meat in a mess tin. Chinese infantry move forward to clear Japanese ambush parties from the junction of the Ledo-Burma Roads. US supply trucks reach Wan Ting on the Chinese border having negotiated the newly opened Ledo-Burma Roads. Chinese civilians cheer as the first US soft-skins pass through the village. US soft-skinned vehicles cross the Salween River suspension bridge in Burma. Black US infantrymen calibrate the sights on a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun and man a water-cooled .50-inch Browning heavy machine gun in anticipation of a Japanese air attack against the convoy. The first convoy of US soft-skins and Willys Jeeps arrive in Kunming (China) as Chinese crowds cheer them on (February 2 1945). Brigadier General Pick makes a triumphal entry into Kunming standing in a Jeep bedecked with US and Chinese flags. Brigadier General Pick is received at Kunming by Chinese General Lung Yan.

 

Titles

  • WAR PICTORIAL NEWS NO 202 (19/3/1945)
 

Technical Data

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

Production Credits

Production Countries:
GB
Sponsor
Ministry of Information, Middle East
commentary
Keating, Rex
film editor
Martin, Charles
Production company
War Pictorial News