Inter Services Public Relations Directorate photographs

Discussion in 'Burma & India' started by High Wood, Oct 30, 2019.

  1. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    The Inter Services Public Relations Directorate appears to have vetted official war photographs of the Burma Campaign for publication in the public domain. Many of their photographs appeared in such publications as the SEAC Newspaper, Victory Magazine and other journals. A large number of their photographs seem to have survived with and without their original captions. I have some of each type in my collection and I wondered if there is any central archive where the originals are kept. I suspect that they were scattered to the four winds at Independence but may still be stored at some unknown building in New Delhi.

    Most of the I.S.P.R.D. photographs that I have still have their original category codes and sequence numbers on the back, these include the following: CRI, PEN, MAT & RIK. These codes obviously relate to something that I am not yet aware of, possibly individual campaigns or branches of service. RIK for example appears to relate to Air Supply during the 2nd Arakan Campaign, but may have had a wider scope.

    I have searched in vain through both the IWM and the RAF Museum photograph collections to see if they have any of the photographs that I have. The Australian War Memorial collection has a few identical photographs but these have been given new numbers and are captioned in a style even more vague than the originals.

    Here is an example: RIK 337. The original I.S.P.R.D. caption reads:

    14th Army crosses Burma border.
    Wading through mud and water, penetrating thick jungles, rebuilding blown up bridges or putting up new ones, men of the 14th Army continue pushing the Japs back further into Burma. In the north they crossed the India-Burma border on the 20th August and have made further advances since. Their progress is so rapid that often they are cut off from their base and have to be supplied from the air.

    Supplies dropped by parachute for troops on and beyond the Tiddim Road. Inter Services Public Relations Directorate, India. 8/44.

    The A.W.M. have the same photograph, numbered AWM PO2491-127, with the caption, Supplies being dropped by parachute from Douglas C47 Dakota transport aircraft to advanced army units during the campaign to capture Mandalay.

    The wrecked vehicles in the foreground appear to be abandoned Japanese army lorries.

    Interser 005.JPG
     
  2. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    A second photograph, RIK 342, has lost its original caption but seeing that its number is only five above the first photograph, it is almost certainly part of the same sequence. The AWM have the same photograph, renumbered as AWM PO2491-128, with the caption, Burma, circa March 1945. Indian troops collecting supplies from the ground and trees which had been dropped by parachute to advanced army units during the campaign to capture Mandalay.

    Note the abandoned army lorries around the perimeter.

    This photograph was also used in Colonel Michael Hickey's The Unforgettable Army. Slim's XIVth Army in Burma, where it is described as a IWM photograph and has the caption, "Men of the RIASC clear a drop zone and sort out vital supplies after an accurate airdrop along the Tiddim Road". I cannot find it in the IWM online photograph collection.

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    Last edited: Oct 30, 2019
  3. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    The AWM have this photograph numbered, AWM PO2491-121, with the caption, Burma. 2nd September 1944. To maintain troops serving behind enemy lines RAAF pilots and aircrew make frequent daily trips in RAF C47 Dakota transport aircraft to drop supplies by parachute.

    There is a 50% chance that the photograph has been reversed.

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  4. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    I think that the AWM sequence numbers are less important than the I.S.P.R.D. numbers which were allocated at the time that the photographs were taken or released, whereas the AWM numbers appear to have been allocated when cataloguing their collection.

    Here is the same photograph as the previous post. It has the I.S.P.R.D. number C16, but this may not be the full number as it appears to have been partially erased.

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    Last edited: Oct 30, 2019
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  5. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Another photograph in the same sequence is numbered C445.

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    Last edited: Jan 16, 2024
  6. PackRat

    PackRat Well-Known Member

    These are superb, more please! (Also please could you upload RIK 342 without the red annotations too, it's a great photo).

    Don't know anything about them, so not sure if the following is of any help: a photograph found stuffed into the 1944 war diary of 236 Field Coy RE, taken during ops with 36 Division in the Arakan.

    It has a stamp from the RAF Public Relations Section on the back, plus a clear typewritten caption (corrected by 236 Fd Coy's diarist!) with the reference GEN/1817. INTERSERVICES PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTORATE, INDIA.

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  7. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    If anyone has any photographs with the stamp on the back ,as in the attached photograph, and particularly with their original captions, I would be very pleased if you could post them, or at least let me have the details.

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    Last edited: Jun 4, 2020
  8. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Many thanks for your reply, GEN is clearly another prefix and I am wondering how many different ones there were. It is also good to note that despite the need for operational security, others than were also unhappy with the vague captions.

    I will post an annotated copy of the photograph
     
  9. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    Unless I've lost it, it's definitely reversed as the side door is port-side/left only on Daks... ;)
     
  10. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    The very same photograph (the right way round) appears in Tony Redding's War in the Wilderness, page 49, where it is captioned, Low pass: stores leave a Dakota over the DZ.

    The problem seems to be that the photographs are used again and again in different publications, with different captions and over time the original date and location of the image in the photograph has gone by the wayside. It would be good to try and locate the original I.S.P.R.D. captions if possible.

    Incidentally, looking through Tony Redding's wonderful book this evening, I have spotted a wrongly captioned photograph, which I will post in the Chindit landing grounds thread in due course.
     
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  11. Mr Jinks

    Mr Jinks Bit of a Cad

  12. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi HW,

    I have a copy of the same photograph which forms part of a collection depicting the Piccadilly Dakota rescue on April 28th 1943 during Operation Longcloth. As you say, it seems that these types of images were used as a stock image to illustrate Air supply in Burma.

    Here is my example:

    Parachutes over Piccadilly.jpg
     
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  13. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Yes, certainly related, they seem to have gathered, censored, approved and released photographs throughout the Burma Campaign. Thank you for posting the link.

    Simon.
     
  14. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Can we say for certain that the photograph was taken on the April 28th 1943? I have several other photographs from the same sequence but they are the press agency versions, fully captioned.
     
  15. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    No, I don't think we can say that. My own feeling is that this type of image was used when an example of a supply drop was needed for a magazine or newspaper article.

    Here is the same photograph again as part of Illustrated magazine depicting the Piccadilly rescue. The magazine is dated 10/07/1943.

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  16. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    That is a shame because the captions for the press photographs of the Piccadilly Dakota rescue are very detailed even down to the fact that it was Easter Sunday.

    Directorate 003.JPG Directorate 004.JPG
     
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  17. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Two other Associated Press captions from the same sequence.
    Directorate 001.JPG Directorate 002.JPG
     
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  18. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Getting back to the Inter Services Public Relations Directorate photographs, I have several from the same numerical sequence. All are missing there original typed captions but all have an annotated description in the same hand writing. Strangely enough, they were not all purchased at the same time. It should be relatively easy to work out where and when they were taken if the captions are accurate. The first is numbered MAT 920 and has the caption: "3 Indian Division. Gun platform being offloaded at destination". This would seem to imply that the aircraft had landed at a Chindit Stronghold.

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  19. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Mat 921 has a similar caption, 3 Ind Div. Cranes unloading. This aircraft is the same one seen in the previous photograph.

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  20. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    I do not have MAT 922 or MAT 923 but I do have MAT 924 which shows the same aircraft. The caption reads, "3 Ind Div. Walking wounded casualties being evacuated".

    I begin to have doubts as to the accuracy of the caption as the soldier in the doorway wearing a slouch hat has a IVth Corps formation sign and the walking wounded appear to be Indian rather than Gurkhas or Burma Rifles.
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