This 1944 War Department official training film (T.F. 1-3343) shows the importance of combating malaria during World War II. The film opens with footage of U.S. soldiers at Corregidor surrendering to Japanese forces in May 1942. Footage shows soldiers on ships in the Pacific prior to the battle—where they are already battling malaria. The film shows General Bernard Montgomery and fighting during the Alamein offensive. Sick pilots lie in beds at a hospital. The malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito rests in the palm of someone’s hand (01:50). A map shows the different WWII fighting zones where malaria exists. Graphics and basic animation are used to show how a mosquito transfers malaria from one sick person to another (03:10). A soldier erases the name of a soldier from the operations board who has succumbed to malaria. Members of the Army Air Forces discuss malaria preventative measures (05:00). They determine the number of locals infected with malaria by collecting blood samples, study rainfall and water samples, and capture mosquitos. A medical officer examines the captured mosquitos to see what species are dominant (06:18). Army engineers construct a new camp, using bulldozers to knock over trees and move earth (06:54). Men spray water and foliage to destroy mosquito breeding grounds. A soldier sprays inside a bunkhouse and inside a transport plane. A man demonstrates using an aerosol bomb sprayer (08:05). The film shows a South Pacific army camp (08:42). Two fighter pilots return from their planes wearing gloves and mosquito head nets. They set down bottles of GI insect repellant. One pilot inspects his bed netting before going to bed and repairs a hole with tape (10:30); the other pilot sprays the room with an aerosol bomb. An air raid sounds and the men quickly leave their room for foxholes. They climb into a foxhole and one of the pilots applies the GI repellant (13:19) on his bare skin; the other does not and is bit by a mosquito. The next morning, the men line up for their regular dose of Atabrine to help delay or suppress symptoms of malaria (14:00), but the pilot who contracted malaria doesn’t take the medicine. The pilot infected with malaria flies a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk (14:20); he spots Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes flying in formation and takes fire from the Japanese fighter planes. He parachutes out of the plane. He drops from his chute, which is caught in a tree (15:59). He looks through his jungle kit and tosses the Atabrine from his supplies. He moves through the jungle, fatiguing from the malaria symptoms. He sits on the ground, sick, struggling to make it to safety (17:59). He dies from the disease. The film then cuts to the office of an Army Air Forces officer, where the officer speaks to a squadron leader about the threat of malaria. They look at men in a hospital ward sick with malaria (21:37). The officer reviews the key steps for malaria discipline, looking at posters that say, “Take Your Atabrine,” “Check Your Bed Net,” “Spray Regularly,” and “Dress Properly.” Footage shows a soldier applying GI repellant on his hands (25:20), face, shoulders, torso, and then he is sprayed with repellant by a fellow soldier. The officer concludes the film saying, “If you want to fight Japs or Germans, you first have got to fight mosquitos.”
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