Description
Object description
Amateur film without titles shot by Major Masterton of the Indian Army's Sirmoor Field Company, showing troops training in amphibious operations and practicing demolitions at training areas in the vicinity of Bombay, India.
Full description
01:59:59:11 [colour] Local people stepping from a boat. Dhow and canoe passing. Local dhow with outrigger, seen from a boat following. [B&W] Trestle bridge. Light surf on a beach with palm trees. Tents amongst palm trees; tilt up trees. Bridge again. [colour] Wide shot; beach with landing craft. Wide shot beach with military vehicles; camera pans along the beach with tracks from vehicle movements. Landing craft with Chevrolet CMP lorry; another landing craft beaching. [B&W] Beach. Beach with landing craft and parked bulldozer; a lorry pulls up. Reclining British officer. British soldier (patch of XXXIII Indian Corps?) speaking on a wireless set, and a sergeant. Sign Beach Gp HQ. Signallers; one points to the camera. More signallers. HQ RE (Headquarters Royal Engineers) sign on a small pyramidal bollard. In tent Indian havildar-major with papers. British lieutenant with him. [colour] Indian troops, probably Sirmoor Field Company, off a landing craft. Sandbagged or stone sangar amongst palm trees. Indian troops at sangar. [B&W] Men with two-man saw. Indian troops sawing wood; a Christian cross (?) appears to stand nearby and camera pans over beach at low tide. Camp with bulldozer dragging a beached boat. Dozer making track. Cement mixer and pouring out cement. Indian troops, apparently building a water tank (?) and a wooden mock-up of a landing craft (?). General shot of the cement mixers and men at work. British officer supevising. With pneumatic drill drilling into concrete uprights. Generator.Drilling. Preparing demolitions. A number of upright concrete structures, like bridge uprights. Indian havildar with plunger. Explosion. Smoke. Shattered concrete. Another explosion against remaining uprights. Wreckage [B&W] Pay parade. [colour] Group shot, taken in setting sunlight, with British and Indian officers. 02:12:34:08
Physical description
16mm