INDIAN TROOPS - R.I.A.S.C. MULE LINES [Allocated Title]

Unedited and uncensored (?) newsreel rushes showing the first Indian Army unit to join the British Expeditionary Force in France after the outbreak of the Second World War on active service with their mules.

Part I. In their billet at Bourghelles, a village between Lille and Orchies in the BEF's sector of northern France, sepoys serving with 32 Animal Transport Company, Royal Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC), gather saplings to make a wattle shelter inside a structure consisting of corrugated iron roofing standing on upright wooden posts. The men are wearing woollen balaclavas and body warmers over their Indian Army tunics and they have 'puttee' leggings. Five sepoys gather around a lit brazier and warm their hands over it, watched by one of their non-commissioned officers (NCO) in a greatcoat. Three British soldiers are seen standing by the Indians grinning at the camera over their shoulders, In a show of comradeship for the camera, the Indians and the Britons link arms and stride through the farm courtyard where they are billeted past large stockpiles of small arms ammunition crates. Men of the RIASC unit are seen standing around and sitting on the ground between a shelter built for their mules and a Nissen hut where they have their accommodation. Tea is prepared in a dixie and one of the sepoys wearing a woolly balaclava sips tea from an enamelled mug.

Part II. A herd of mules belonging to 32 Animal Transport Company is seen in a field where they have been grazing (?); they are all wearing blankets to protect them from the cold. Tracking shots from a moving vehicle and hand-held shots showing the Indian muleteers leading their animals tethered together in groups of five along a main road made from cobble stones on the outskirts of a town. At one point, one of the mules gets frisky and kicks its hind legs in the air.

Part III. Sepoys are seen making chapattis in the unit's cookhouse made from corrugated iron, mixing and rolling the dough and then flattening it by hand before baking it on a hot plate. Freshly baked chapattis are then put into a basket. A very dark shot of sauce being poured from a ladle into a cylinder.

Part IV. Close-ups of mules. The Indian muleteers in a field with their animals drawn up in two long rows facing away from each other. A muleteer puts on a bridle on a mule. One animal is seen chewing the blanket worn by the mule next to it; in turn, this beast nibbles the ear of the mule to its right. A herd of mules belonging to 32 Animal Transport Company in the field. A close up shot of an Indian NCO shouting orders to the men.

Part V. A view of the the mule shelter and the Nissen hut nearby almost deserted except for the presence of a British officer who steps out in front of the camera. Close-ups of two more Indian NCOs - the first one wearing a greatcoat and a woolly balaclava on his head as he turns to smile at the camera. Men squat on the ground and eat a meal consisting of chapattis and a vegetable curry in small dishes. Off-duty sepoys are seen near their cook house; one is carrying a straw sweeping brush in his hand. An interior shot inside the Nissen hut where straw is used for sleeping on instead of beds as seven sepoys enter and an exterior shot of two Nissen huts in use by 32 Animal Transport Company for accommodation.

35mm