More commonly called the Burma or Thai-Burma Railway, it was a major project during Allied Far East imprisonment under the Japanese. The quality of medical care received by different groups of prisoners varied enormously. The newer steel and concrete bridge was made up of eleven curved-truss bridge spans which the Japanese builders brought from Java in the Dutch East Indies in 1942. 69 miles (111km) of the railway were in Burma and the remaining 189 miles (304km) were in Thailand. 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. Unbeknown to his captors, and at the risk of losing his life if discovered, he kept a diary documenting life. [12][13] The projected completion date was December 1943. A newly wealthy English woman returns to Malaya to build a well for the villagers who helped her during war. Burma-Siam Railway list of prisoner of war work camps in Thailand during the construction of the death railway, with diagram. Work on the railway started at Thanbyuzayat on 1st October 1942 and somewhat later at Ban Pong. 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. Max Heiliger-Laundering money for the Nazis. The Prisoner List. 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. 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 The two curved spans of the bridge which collapsed due to the British air attack were replaced by angular truss spans provided by Japan as part of their postwar reparations, thus forming the iconic bridge now seen today. Education Zone | Developed By Rara Theme. Organization of the Labor. There, approximately 20% of the Allied POWs died during its construction. The only redeeming feature was the ease with which the sick could be evacuated to base hospitals in trains returning empty from Burma. Since the 8th Division was raised during the crisis of the fall of France in mid-1940, these men would also have chosen to play a role in averting Allied defeat. Only the devotion skill and enterprise of the prisoner of war medical staffs saved the lives of thousands and gradually evolved an organisation which could control disease and mortality. Dutch chemist Van Boxtell. Only the first 130 kilometres (81mi) of the line in Thailand remained, with trains still running as far north as Nam Tok. Prisoners of War 330,000 people worked on building the railway, including 250,000 Asian laborers and 61,000 prisoners of war (POWs). At the same time the 'Sweat Army' of labourers from Burma, ostensibly volunteers but many conscripted by the puppet Burmese government, toiled on the construction work. On 17 October 1943, construction gangs originating in Burma working south met up with construction gangs originating in Thailand working north. The rail line was built along the Khwae Noi (Kwai) River valley to support the Japanese armed forces during the Burma Campaign. Lieutenant General Eiguma Ishida, overall commander of the Burma Railway, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Some rosters show if living, dead or killed in action (KIA), cause of death and burial site. 493.8 Records of the Peiping headquarters Group 1946-47 493.1 Administrative History Related Records: Records of U.S. Army Service Forces (World War II), RG 160. 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. As well as these deaths, Japanese civilians were nearly 10,000 lost at sea in this attack and Australia lost about 2800 soldiers to American operations. From the inmates of Colditz to the men who took part in the 'Great Escape . Stolen banknotes and jewelry along with Holocaust victims' dental gold, wedding rings, and even scrap gold melted down from spectacles-frames flooded into the Max Heiliger accounts, completely filling several bank vaults by 1942. These coolies have been brought from Malaya under false pretenses 'easy work, good pay, good houses!' [6], In early 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma and seized control of the colony from the United Kingdom. Also sketches by POWs. The Burma Railway, also known as the SiamBurma Railway, ThaiBurma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a 415km (258mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). Most of the camps were right alongside the railway track and some were near bridges and other vulnerable points. Votes: 1,734. Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, at Thanbyuzayat, 65 kilometres south of Moulmein, Myanmar (Burma) has the graves of 3,617 POWs who died on the Burmese portion of the line. Used with permission of the author, Lilian Sluyter. Two hundred men were housed in each barracks, giving each man a two-foot wide space in which to live and sleep. Gradually more forces were sent to Burma and Thailand; in total more than 60,000 prisoners of war were transported to the railway project during 1942-3. Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop an Australian surgeon and legend among prisoners of the Thai Burma Railway in World War II; These men came from all over Australia though some battalions had strong regional roots. On 26 October 1942, British prisoners of war arrived at Tamarkan to construct the bridge. The large population of local labourers, estimated to number around 100,000, had an even higher mortality rate. Map Created by Philip Cross July 2000. 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. [69] An unknown number of Malayan workers were housed in a nearby camp. Many are now held by the Australian War Memorial, State Library of Victoria, and the Imperial War Museum in London. 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 each: rank, serial number, regiment, date of birth, home address, next-of-kin, religion, date on which arrived at the camp, and date of leaving because of illness (the type of illness is stated in each case) or, as in many cases, death. Such extreme mortality was experienced by Australian and British prisoners of war (POW) forced to build the Thai-Burma railway during the Second World War. The Death Railway is only one of the names describing the Japanese project built in 1943 to provide support to its forces during World War II. The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by British, Australian, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project inspired by the need for improved communications to maintain the large Japanese Armv in Burma. This was the same time at which Australians in A Force left Changi for Burma. The name used by the Japanese Government was TaiMen Rensetsu Tetsud (), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway. April 1942 to October 1943. Theatres of bamboo and attap (palm fronds) were built, sets, lighting, costumes and makeup devised, and an array of entertainment produced that included music halls, variety shows, cabarets, plays, and musical comedies even pantomimes. Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, in the city of Kanchanaburi, contains the graves of 6,982 personnel comprising: A memorial at the Kanchanaburi cemetery lists 11 other members of the Indian Army, who are buried in nearby Muslim cemeteries.[94]. Among the Allied POWs were some 30,000 British, 13,000 Australians, 18,000 Dutch, and 700 Americans. The 75th anniversary of the infamous Thai-Burma Railway built by World War II prisoners of war will be marked today. [29], The number of Southeast Asian workers recruited or impressed to work on the Burma railway has been estimated to have been more than 180,000 Southeast Asian civilian labourers (rmusha). George, from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland, was a POW in Java in 1942. Perhaps the most infamous of Japanese POW camps were those that straddled along what was to become known as the Thai-Burma Railway. [30][31][32] During the initial stages of the construction of the railway, Burmese and Thais were employed in their respective countries, but Thai workers, in particular, were likely to abscond from the project and the number of Burmese workers recruited was insufficient. [54][55], After the completion of the railroad, over 10,000 POWs were then transported to Japan. The full year membership runs from August to the end of July the following year. Conduct Unbecoming : The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy. [62], Workers in more isolated areas suffered a much higher death rate than did others. 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. A copper spike was driven at the meeting point by commanding General Eiguma Ishida, and a memorial plaque was revealed. The list contains over 1700 names and is particularly interesting as a record of the decimation, by disease or untreated wounds, of prisoners working on the Burma-Thailand railway. The wooden bridge was reused for pedestrians and cars. The Dutch formed the second largest contingent of Allied prisoners of war on the ThaiBurma railway, after the British. The Japanese Army transported 500,000 tonnes of freight[citation needed] over the railway before it fell into Allied hands. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. Aside from the classic British-American film in 1957, Bridge on the River Kwai, the struggles prisoners of war endured in Burma and the making of the "death railway" became a "forgotten war" - it got lost in the Western Front's heroics and the ugly truth about the horrifying gas chambers found in the Nazis' prison camps. This gave rise to the name of "River Kwai" in English. Director Jonathan Teplitzky Writers Frank Cottrell Boyce (screenplay) Andy Paterson (screenplay) Eric Lomax (book) Stars Parts of the abandoned route have been converted into a walking trail.[28]. Thailand - Burma Railway. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Many remember Japanese soldiers as being cruel and indifferent to the fate of Allied prisoners of war and the Asian rmusha. Extracts from a report on a search carried out by an officer of the Army Graves Service, 6th to 22nd December 1948. Navy and the auxiliary forces of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. Powered by WordPress. The Australian, British, Dutch and other Allied prisoners of war, along with Chinese, Malay, and Tamil labourers, were required by the Japanese to complete the cutting. Privacy Policy. Updates? It is open to general traffic from Ban Pong to Kanchanaburi, about 33 miles.Japanese communications depended upon a long and exposed sea route to Rangoon via Singapore and the Strait of Malacca, and a road (quite unfit for prolonged heavy traffic) from Raheng through Kowkarelk to Moulmein. Steve White-do-not-use. The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by British, Australian, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project inspired by the need for improved communications to maintain the large Japanese Armv in Burma. The Japanese demanded from each camp a certain percentage of its strength for working parties, irrespective of the number of sick, and to make up the required quota the Japanese camp commandants insisted on men totally unfit for work being driven out and sometimes carried out. [56] Those left to maintain the line still suffered from appalling living conditions as well as increasing Allied air raids. In 1941 these were adjusted to 19 and 40 years. 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. Source 4 - Sleepers Map of the Thai-Burma Railway Sleepers from Hellfire Pass Source 1 - The Wreaths Some of their works were used as evidence in the trials of Japanese war criminals. The first cut at Konyu was approximately 1,500 feet (450 metres) long and 23 feet (7 metres) deep, and the second was approximately 250 feet (75 metres) long and 80 feet (25 metres) deep. By late spring 1942, with the surrender of Allied strongholds in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies, an estimated 140,000 Allied prisoners of war had fallen into Japanese hands. ARTICLE 29. Download Ground News for free here: https://ground.news/megaprojectsSimo. Red Cross parcels helped, but these were invariably held up by the Japanese. The second largest group of prisoners more than 2700 were captured on Java. Since the Netherlands East Indies had been under Dutch control for centuries, the Dutch POWs included not only Europeans but Eurasians, who had acquired full civil rights, and indigenous soldiers, including Sundanese, Javanese, Menadonese, Ambonese and Timorese. The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma-Siam railway (except Americans, who were repatriated) have been transferred from the camp burial grounds and solitary sites along the railway into three war cemeteries. Australian POW Prisoners of War Books about Thai Burma Railway Hellfire Pass Military Books DVD Docos. The Americans were called the Lost Battalion as their fate was unknown to the United States for more than two years after their capture. Japanese Medical Orderly. It was built from 1940 to 1943 by civilian laborers impressed or recruited by the Japanese and prisoners of war taken by the Japanese, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. The working conditions were appalling. There are good reasons for this. [21][22] The railway link between Thailand and Burma was to be separated again for protecting British interests in Singapore. It is also known from a study of the Australians who joined the army in World War II that they were generally young and unmarried. The remains of the notorious F-Force camp in Thailand. ", "Burma-Siam Railway - Australia receives no payment", "Grote schade aan materiaal der N.I. On 3 April, a second bombing raid, this time by Liberator heavy bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), damaged the wooden railroad bridge once again. Around 90,000 civilians died, as did more than 12,000 Allied prisoners. Another group, numbering 190 US personnel, to whom Lieutenant Henri Hekking, a Dutch medical officer with experience in the tropics was assigned, suffered only nine deaths. A railway route between Burma and Thailand, crossing Three Pagodas Pass and following the valley of the Khwae Noi river in Thailand, had been surveyed by the British government of Burma as early as 1885, but the proposed course of the line through hilly jungle terrain divided by many rivers was considered too difficult to undertake. This owes something to the fact that in F Force, where British and Australian numbers were roughly equal, some 2036 British died compared to 1060 Australians in the period up to May 1944. During this time, prisoners suffered from disease, malnutrition, and cruel forms of punishment and torture inflicted by the Japanese. Although it was often possible to supplement this diet by purchases from the local civilian population, men sometimes had to live for weeks on little more than a small daily ration of rice flavoured with salt. ", "Yamashita: the greatest Japanese general of World War II? This is the bridge that still remains today. The British POWs suffered the highest number of dead of any Allied group on the ThaiBurma railway. Published by Marsworth. Camps were usually named after the kilometre where they were located. On this end of the railway the workforce was largely Australian, Dutch and local rmusha. [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. 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. The defendants were charged with crimes against Western prisoners of war and civilians and with crimes against local people. More than 250 miles of railway, from Thanbyuzayat in Burma to Ban Pong in Thailand, remained to be constructed, much of it through mountainous country and dense jungle, in a region with one of the worst climates in the world.The Japanese aimed at completing the railway in 14 months, or at least by the end of l943. More than 22 000 Australians were taken prisoner in the Asia-Pacific region in the early months of 1942. Altogether, some 35,000 parachute and glider troops were involved in the operation. Second, the occupation of Burma would also put Japanese armies on the doorstep of British India. [47] Coast's work is noted for its detail on the brutality of some Japanese and Korean guards as well as the humanity of others. [76], The new railway line did not fully connect with the Burmese railroad network as no railroad bridges were built which crossed the river between Moulmein and Martaban (the former on the river's southern bank and the latter to the opposite on the northern bank). If you are joining after August, please choose the month you are joining in below. [60] However, authorities agree that the percentage of deaths among the rmusha was much higher than among the Allied military personnel. His subordinates Colonel Shigeo Nakamura, Colonel Tamie Ishii and Lieutenant-Colonel Shoichi Yanagita were sentenced to death. Nearly all our Australian POW Books are true stories many written by the Australian POW who worked on the Thai Burma Railway during WW2. [100], A preserved section of line has been rebuilt at the National Memorial Arboretum in England.[101]. 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. [64] Hiroshi Abe, a first lieutenant who supervised construction of the railway at Sonkrai where 600 British prisoners out of 1,600 died of cholera and other diseases,[65] was sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison, as a B/C class war criminal. The cook-house and huts for the working parties came next and accommodation for the sick last of all. Some have even brought wives and children. "[38], The first prisoners of war, 3,000 Australians, to go to Burma left Changi Prison in Singapore on 14 May 1942 and journeyed by sea to near Thanbyuzayat ( in the Burmese language; in English 'Tin Shelter'), the northern terminus of the railway. Finally, on 1 July 1958, the rail line was completed to Nam Tok (Thai , 'waterfall', referring to the nearby Sai Yok Noi Waterfall) The portion in use today is some 130km (81mi) long. 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 two parties met at Nieke in November 1943, and the line - 263 miles long - was completed by December. [73] Bad weather forced the cancellation of the mission and the AZON was never deployed against the bridge. [8], The project aimed to connect Ban Pong in Thailand with Thanbyuzayat in Burma, linking up with existing railways at both places. For example, a group of 400 Dutch prisoners, which included three doctors with extensive tropical medicine experience, suffered no deaths at all. 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. 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. More than one in five of them died there. Records of Naval Operating Forces, RG 313. Articles on the Australian medical personnel working on the 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 Australian commander Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Kappe attributed the lower Australian death rate to a more determined will to live, a higher sense of discipline, a particularly high appreciation of the importance of good sanitation, and a more natural adaptability to harsh conditions [and to] the splendid and unselfish services rendered by the medical personnel in the Force. The railway connected Thailand and Burma and was shut down in 1947, after the war. 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).It was built from 1940 to 1943 by civilian laborers impressed or recruited by the Japanese and prisoners of war taken by the Japanese, to supply troops and weapons in the . utilisation of prisoner of war labour in japanese prisoner of war camps. 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. The railway track from Kanchanaburi - photographed in 1945. There is a popular perception that they also died at a higher rate than Australians. [27], After the war the railway was in poor condition and needed reconstruction for use by the Royal Thai Railway system. Some 30 000 of these prisoners of war later worked on the ThaiBurma railway. The 'Market Garden' plan employed all three divisions of First Allied Airborne Army. Map of Prisoner of War Camps. CHAPTER 2. However, the film and book contain many historical inaccuracies, and should be considered works of fiction. The Death Railway. [18][19] The Japanese staff would travel by train C56 31 from Nong Pladuk, Thailand to Thanbyuzayat, Burma. Director: Jack Lee | Stars: Virginia McKenna, Peter Finch, Kenji Takaki, Tran Van Khe. Another cohort of 450 US personnel suffered 100 deaths. In March 1944, when the bulk of the prisoners were in the main camps at Chungkai, Tamarkan, Kanchanaburi, Tamuan, Non Pladuk and Nakom Paton, conditions temporarily improved. In these camps entertainment flourished as an essential part of their rehabilitation. The Prisoner List is a compelling account of the experiences of a prisoner of the Japanese in WWII - from the humiliating defeat at Singapore, to forced labour on the Saigon docks and the horrors of life on the infamous Burma Railway. [10][11] After preliminary work of airfields and infrastructure, construction of the railway began in Burma and Thailand on 16 September 1942. [9] Much of the construction materials, including tracks and sleepers, were brought from dismantled branches of Malaya's Federated Malay States Railway network and the East Indies' various rail networks. The two sections of the line met at kilometre 263, about 18km (11mi) south of the Three Pagodas Pass at Konkoita (nowadays: Kaeng Khoi Tha, Sangkhla Buri District, Kanchanaburi Province).
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