An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also . Burma was a key strategic objective for the Japanese for two reasons. [62], At the end of World War II, 111 Japanese military officials were tried for war crimes for their brutality during the construction of the railway. [12][13] The projected completion date was December 1943. However, the film and book contain many historical inaccuracies, and should be considered works of fiction. Donate to COFEPOW instantly - simply click on the button below. In 1943 Japan's high command decided to build a railway linking Thailand and Burma, to supply its campaign against the Allies in Burma. [75] Repair work soon commenced afterwards and continued again and both bridges were operational again by the end of May. The largest of these is at Hellfire Pass (north of the current terminus at Nam Tok), a cutting where the greatest number of people died. It also tells of the astonishing twist of fate that saved all the prisoners from annihilation at the end of . Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, RG 331. The majority of the army personnel were from the 8th Division. "[46] The living and working conditions on the Burma Railway were often described as "horrific", with maltreatment, sickness, and starvation. The railway was overworked carrying troops and military supplies, and local traders seldom visited the camps of the working parties, small compared with those of 1943 and therefore not so profitable; so that supplementary food supplies were scanty, and again sickness took its toll. [50] Charles died in December 2009. Japanese Medical Orderly. In all, over 8000 of these men and women around 35 per cent would die during captivity, more than 2800 of them working on the ThaiBurma railway. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from More than 22 000 Australians were taken prisoner in the Asia-Pacific region in the early months of 1942. It also describes the living and working conditions experienced by the POWs, together with the culture of the Thai towns and countryside that became many POWs' homes after leaving Singapore with the working parties sent to the railway. Part II: Asian Romusha: The Silenced Voices of History", "Distances between camps on the Burma-Thailand Railway", "Last Man Out: A Memoir of the Burma-Thailand Death Railway", "Stolen Years: Australian prisoners of war The BurmaThailand Railway", "The Thailand-Burma Railway, 19421946: documents and selected writings", "Tamarkan, Tha Makham 56.20km - Thailand", "Forgotten Sikhs of the Siam -Burma Death Railway", "The lies that built The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Old China Hands, Tales & Stories The Azon Bomb", "Aerial photograph of Kanchanaburi, Thailand during a raid by Allied aircraft including", "Thanlwin Bridge (Mawlamyine), longest and largest in Myanmar, emerges to serve interests of State and region", "Railway of Death: Images of the construction of the BurmaThailand Railway 19421943", "Birma-Siam Spoorweg en de Pakan Baroe Spoorweg. Among the Allied POWs were some 30,000 British, 13,000 Australians, 18,000 Dutch, and 700 Americans. In 1960, because of discrepancies between facts and fiction, the portion of the Mae Klong which passes under the bridge was renamed the Khwae Yai ( in the Thai language; in English, 'big tributary'). Dutch chemist Van Boxtell. During its construction more than 16 ,000 prisoners of war died - mainly of sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion - and were buried along the railway. Presidio Pr; ISBN: 0891415777. The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, the Siam-Burma Railway, the Thai-Burma Railway and similar names, is a 415km (258miles) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar).It was built from 1940 to 1943 by civilian labourers impressed or recruited by the Japanese and prisoners of war taken by the Japanese, to supply troops and weapons in the . The construction of the railway has been the subject of a novel and an award-winning film, The Bridge on the River Kwai (itself an adaptation of the French language novel The Bridge over the River Kwai); a novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, and a large number of personal accounts of POW experiences. [57][58], In addition to malnutrition and physical abuse, malaria, cholera, dysentery and tropical ulcers were common contributing factors in the death of workers on the Burma Railway. [13], Estimates of deaths among Southeast Asian civilians subject to forced labour, often known as rmusha, vary widely, because statistics are incomplete and fragmented. The total number of rmusha working on the railway may have reached 300,000 and according to some estimates, the death rate among them was as high as 50 percent. A lower death rate among Dutch POWs and internees, relative to those from the UK and Australia, has been linked to the fact that many personnel and civilians taken prisoner in the Dutch East Indies had been born there, were long-term residents and/or had Eurasian ancestry; they tended thus to be more resistant to tropical diseases and to be better acclimatized than other Western Allied personnel. BBC News Bob Reynolds spent four years as a prisoner of war in Burma and Taiwan. The name Changi is synonymous with the suffering of Australian prisoners of the Japanese during the Second World War. They utilised a labour force composed of prisoners of war taken in the campaigns in South-East Asia and the Pacific, and coolies brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies or conscripted in Siam and Burma. Undoubtedly Australian POWs did display such qualities on the ThaiBurma railway and elsewhere. Though medical consequences of war attract attention, the health consequences of the prisoner-of-war (POW) experience are poorly researched and apprec . Between 180,000 and 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians and over 60,000 Allied prisoners of war were subjected to forced labour during its construction. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from In due course the inevitable happened - a cholera epidemic broke out. Surviving Australian veterans will attend a commemorative . [37] British doctor Robert Hardie wrote: "The conditions in the coolie camps down river are terrible," Basil says, "They are kept isolated from Japanese and British camps. Unbeknown to his captors, and at the risk of losing his life if discovered, he kept a diary documenting life. In reality, however, the death rates of British and Australians across all sites on the railway were scarcely any different 22 and 21 per cent respectively. [44], The construction camps consisted of open-sided barracks built of bamboo poles with thatched roofs. The barracks were about 60m (66yd) long with sleeping platforms raised above the ground on each side of an earthen floor. This included personnel from USS Houston and the 131st Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard. The railway was to run 420 kilometres through rugged jungle. During this time, prisoners suffered from disease, malnutrition, and cruel forms of punishment and torture inflicted by the Japanese. South Australian Rex Butler's time as a hard-riding buffalo shooter in the Northern Territory's crocodile swamps stood him in good stead when he went to war, fell into the hands of the Japanese and made an incredible escape. From British mathematician Arthur Thomas Doodson's Tide-prediction machine, and PLUTO (short for 'pipeline under the ocean' - supplied petrol from Britain to Europe), to the German's 'Rommel's Asparagus', discover 7 clever innovations used on D-Day. Burma Railway, also called Burma-Siam Railway, railway built during World War II connecting Bangkok and Moulmein (now Mawlamyine), Burma (Myanmar). [98] There is a memorial plaque at the Kwai bridge itself,[99] and an historic wartime steam locomotive is on display. They were some of 42 000 Dutch military and naval personnel and 100 000 Dutch civilians who were captured when the Japanese conquered the Netherlands East Indies in early 1942. Map of Prisoner of War Camps. notebook kept by captain harold lord, regular officer in the royal army service corps (rasc), whilst a japanese prisoner of war working on the burma-thailand railway in 1943, listing neatly and chronologically the names of the british prisoners of war who worked on the railway, may - december 1943, together with the following information about Javanese, Malayan Tamils of Indian origin, Burmese, Chinese, Thai, and other Southeast Asians, forcibly drafted by the Imperial Japanese Army to work on the railway, died in its construction. Its route was through Three Pagodas Pass on the border of Thailand and Burma. Conduct Unbecoming : The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy. Published by Marsworth. Map Created by Philip Cross July 2000. However, the British would form only a minority of the Allied POWs in Burma. From the inmates of Colditz to the men who took part in the 'Great Escape . As a result of war bombing on bridges repeatedly, the Japanese used it to supply their troops in Burma. Sort by: POW Thai Burma Death. First, the Burmese city of Lashio was the southern terminus of the Burma Road, the main resupply route for Chinese during the Sino-Japanese War. [33] Other documents suggest that more than 100,000 Malayan Tamils were brought into the project and around 60,000 perished.[35][36]. The Japanese wanted the railway completed as quickly as possible, and working units were comprised of massive numbers of prisoners scattered over the entire length of the proposed route. The decision to complete the railway connecting Moulmein with Bangkok, which had been commenced before the war but abandoned by the two countries concerned, was taken in June 1942. The longest and deepest cuttings in the railway occurred at Konyu, some 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Education Zone | Developed By Rara Theme. Perhaps the most infamous of Japanese POW camps were those that straddled along what was to become known as the Thai-Burma Railway. The larger number of British deaths overall reflects the fact that there were simply more British working on the railway than Australians or Dutch POWs. Over 22 000 Australians were captured by the Japanese when they conquered South East Asia in early 1942. Over 60,000 prisoners worked on its construction, the majority of whom were British, and some 20% died before release in 1945. While civilians were generally treated better than military prisoners, conditions in Japanese captivity were almost universally deplorable. [59], Several museums are dedicated to those who perished building the railway. In October 1943, the railway station was finished. The Japanese would not allow the prisoners to construct a symbol (a white triangle on a blue base) indicating the presence of a prisoner of war camp, and these raids added their quota to the deaths on the line. Two forces, one based in Thailand and one in Burma, worked from opposite ends' of the line towards the centre.When the first of the prisoners arrived their initial task was the construction of camps at Kanchanaburi and Ban Pong in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Burma. [6], In early 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma and seized control of the colony from the United Kingdom. My Dad is not with us to tell his own story although he did keep a diary . Most of the camps were right alongside the railway track and some were near bridges and other vulnerable points. The name used by the Japanese Government was TaiMen Rensetsu Tetsud (), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway. Subcategories Grid List There are 23 products. Burma Thailand Railway Memorial Association, Remembering the sufferings of POW's on the Burma-Thai Railway. On 8 December 1941, Japan invaded Thailand which quickly surrendered. [63] The most important trial was against the general staff. Konkoita is approximately 263 kilometres north of Nong Pladuk (also known as Non Pladuk), or 151 kilometres south of Thanbyuzayat. Khwae was frequently mispronounced by non-Thai speakers as kwai, or 'buffalo' in Thai). Organization of the Labor. The rail line was built along the Khwae Noi (Kwai) River valley to support the Japanese armed forces during the Burma Campaign. Extracts from a report on a search carried out by an officer of the Army Graves Service, 6th to 22nd December 1948. The Japanese assumed that if Chiang Kai-sheks Nationalist forces were deprived of this key logistical resource, their conquest of China could be easily completed. It was to be built by a captive labour force of about 60,000 Allied prisoners of war and 200,000 romusha, or Asian labourers. At main camps such as Chungkai, Tamarkan, Non Pladuk and Thanbyuzayat were "base Hospitals" which were also huts of bamboo and thatch, staffed by such medical officers and orderlies as were allowed by the Japanese to care for the sick prisoners. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. They had very little transportation to get stuff to and from the workers, they had almost no medication, they couldnt get food let alone materials, they had no tools to work with except for basic things like spades and hammers, and they worked in extremely difficult conditions in the jungle with its heat and humidity. [66][67] No compensation or reparations have been provided to Southeast Asian victims. (Supplied: Andrew Glynn) Families find long-lost answers The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam-Burma Railway, Thai-Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a 415 km (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). Some 30 000 of these prisoners of war later worked on the ThaiBurma railway. [40][41] Construction camps housing at least 1,000 workers each were established every 510 miles (817km) of the route. RM 2CYBAYN - Military personnel and people attend a dawn memorial service for soldiers who died during World War Two on ANZAC Day at Hellfire Pass in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand, April 25, 2015. Records of the Army Staff, RG 319. A newly wealthy English woman returns to Malaya to build a well for the villagers who helped her during war. These were men from the 7th Division who had been brought back from the Middle East to help defend the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) from the Japanese attack in early 1942. The railway track from Kanchanaburi - photographed in 1945. Thereafter work on the railway consisted of maintenance, and repairs to damage caused by Allied bombing. This is particularly true on Anzac Day (April 25), when Australians pay tribute to those who served and lost their lives during war. Except for the worst months of the construction period, known as the "Speedo" (mid-spring to mid-October 1943),[51][52] one of the ways the Allied POWs kept their spirits up was to ask one of the musicians in their midst to play his guitar or accordion, or lead them in a group sing-along, or request their camp comedians to tell some jokes or put on a skit. List of Australian Army Medical Corp Officers on the Burma-Thailand Railway A FORCE To Burma May 1942 D FORCE To Southern end of line March 1943 DUNLOP FORCE To Southern end of line January 1943 F FORCE To Northern Thailand April 1943 H FORCE To Southern end of line 1943 L FORCE Deployed in medical support of natives August 1943 Many men in the railway workforce bore the brunt of pitiless or uncaring guards. In October 1942 a similar-sized group of British POWs left Singapore for Thailand and were employed around Kanchanaburi and on building the steel bridge at Tha Markam which would later become known as The Bridge on the River Kwai. The total length of miles, the total number of bridges over 600, including six to eight long-span bridges the total number of people who were involved (one-quarter of a million), the very short time in which they managed to accomplish it, and the extreme conditions they accomplished it under. But this phase soon passed and from May 1944 until the capitulation of Japan in August 1945 parties of prisoners were sent from the various base camps to work on railway maintenance, cut fuel for the locomotives, and handle stores at dumps along the line. Elsewhere in the Pacific some 10 000 British, Canadian and Indian troops were captured when Hong Kong fell in December 1941 and further 5000 in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) in early 1942. The cuttings at Hellfire Pass became known as the speedo period, after a solecistic command shouted by Japanese guards and engineers to their English-speaking prisoners. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Burma Railway, also called Burma-Siam Railway, railway built during World War II connecting Bangkok and Moulmein (now Mawlamyine ), Burma ( Myanmar ). Download Ground News for free here: https://ground.news/megaprojectsSimo. When you got back to your sleeping platform you only had a tin of water to wash your feet. Omissions? One of the earliest and most respected accounts is ex-POW John Coast's Railroad of Death, first published in 1946 and republished in a new edition in 2014. In 1941 these were adjusted to 19 and 40 years. Tens of thousands of POWs were packed onto vessels that came to be known as Hell ships; one in five prisoners did not survive the cramped, disease-ridden journey. George, from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland, was a POW in Java in 1942. In Saigon, the Brits accused Aussies of exaggerating conditions on the Railway. Prisoners of War 330,000 people worked on building the railway, including 250,000 Asian laborers and 61,000 prisoners of war (POWs). The first train to pass Konkoita on the newly constructed Burma-Thailand railway, built for the Japanese by prisoner of war (POW) labour. This video is sponsored by Ground News - The world's first news comparison platform. The railway has been purchased by the Thai Government from its starting point at Ban Pong to the Burmese border, and it is now part of the Royal State railways. Frequently men were sent to work on the line long before their accommodation was completed. Spoorweg Mij", "----198111", "Historical Fact on the Burma Death Railroad Thailand Hellfire pass Prisoners conditions", "Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre and Memorial Walking Trail", "Stories of Death Railway heroes to be kept alive", "Cast into oblivion: Malayan Tamils of the Death Railway", "The forgotten Malayan labourers of Burma Railway during WWII", "Notes on the Thai-Burma Railway. Hekking died in 1994. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The quality of medical care received by different groups of prisoners varied enormously. More recently, the motion picture The Railway Man (based on the book of the same name) also gives insight into the barbaric conditions and suffering that were inflicted upon the workers who built the railway. On 16 January 1946, the British ordered Japanese POWs to remove a four kilometre stretch of rail between Nikki (Ni Thea) and Sonkrai. The map shows the significance of the building of the Thai-Burma railway by the Australian prisoners of war to Australia because it shows where the POWs were located whilst being prisoners. Second, the occupation of Burma would also put Japanese armies on the doorstep of British India. More commonly called the Burma or Thai-Burma Railway, it was a major project during Allied Far East imprisonment under the Japanese. Most of the railway was dismantled shortly after the war. The working conditions were appalling. [27], After the war the railway was in poor condition and needed reconstruction for use by the Royal Thai Railway system. "About a dozen on the Burma side and more again on the Thailand side of the railway, in camps like F-Force and D-Force, and about eight men who were with 'Weary' Dunlop at Hintok," he said. [17] A holiday was declared for 25 October which was chosen as the ceremonial opening of the line. One factor was that many European and US doctors had little experience with tropical diseases. When the Japanese conquered much of South East Asia in late 1941 and early 1942 they captured more than 50 000 British military personnel. Many remember Japanese soldiers as being cruel and indifferent to the fate of Allied prisoners of war and the Asian rmusha. When Britainwent to waron 3 September 1939 there was none of the 'flag-waving patriotism' of August 1914. Another cohort of 450 US personnel suffered 100 deaths. The 'Market Garden' plan employed all three divisions of First Allied Airborne Army. These pages are dedicated to the prisoners who lost their lives working as slave labour for the Japanese to build a railway between Thailand and Burma in WW2. Votes: 1,734. For example, a group of 400 Dutch prisoners, which included three doctors with extensive tropical medicine experience, suffered no deaths at all. Altogether, some 35,000 parachute and glider troops were involved in the operation. [8], The project aimed to connect Ban Pong in Thailand with Thanbyuzayat in Burma, linking up with existing railways at both places. He was one of Dunlop's 1,000 the men under commanding . In Burma. Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop an Australian surgeon and legend among prisoners of the Thai Burma Railway in World War II; Part Two: Capture Examines the shock of capture for Australians, with first-hand accounts describing the physical circumstances of internment, and the feelin. Labor furnished by prisoners of war shall have no direct relation with war operations. [69] It was this Bridge 277 that was to be attacked with the help of one of the world's first examples of a precision-guided munition, the US VB-1 AZON MCLOS-guided 1,000lb aerial ordnance, on 23 January 1945. On 17 October 1943, construction gangs originating in Burma working south met up with construction gangs originating in Thailand working north. [56] Those left to maintain the line still suffered from appalling living conditions as well as increasing Allied air raids. The only cover for the prisoners was that afforded by the flimsy bamboo and thatch huts, where they were made to shelter while the raids were in progress, and the inevitable casualties were heavy. [25][26] After the accident, it was decided to end the line at Nam Tok and reuse the remainder to rehabilitate the line. Again and both bridges were operational again by the Japanese for two reasons, some miles... 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