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. No prisoner of war may be employed at labors for which he is physically unfit. Frequently men were sent to work on the line long before their accommodation was completed. Hekking died in 1994. The cook-house and huts for the working parties came next and accommodation for the sick last of all. A total of 50,000 troops were captured at one time there."He then got moved to Malai POW Camp 1 in Thailand, and transferred to Camp 2 to build the Burma Railway."He was liberated in 1945 . More commonly called the Burma or Thai-Burma Railway, it was a major project during Allied Far East imprisonment under the Japanese. 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. Other parties were employed on cutting and building roads, some through virgin jungle, or in building defence positions. Australian prisoners of war 1941-1945 (ANZAC Portal, 2007, March) This is a part of the series, Australians in the Pacific War. The two parties met at Nieke in November 1943, and the line - 263 miles long - was completed by December. Estimates vary but the number who worked on the railway was possibly as high as 18 000. Prisoners of war from Java (Williams Force, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Williams, and Black Force, including 593 Australians commanded by Lieutenant Colonel C. M. Black) travelled via Singapore and thence to Moulmein, arriving in Burma on 29-30 October 1942. [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. [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. [61], Weight loss among Allied officers who worked on construction was, on average, 914kg (2030lb) less than that of enlisted personnel. During its construction more than 16 ,000 prisoners of war died - mainly of sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion - and were buried along the railway. On 8 December 1941, Japan invaded Thailand which quickly surrendered. In one raid alone on the Non Pladuk area, where the camp was located amongst sidings holding petrol, ammunition and store trains protected by an anti-aircraft post, and prisoners were not allowed to leave the huts.95 were killed and 300 wounded. Some workers were attracted by the relatively high wages, but the working conditions for the rmusha were deadly. 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. From June 1942 onwards large groups of prisoners were transferred periodically to Thailand and Burma from Java, Sumatra and Borneo. For the railways of the country Burma, see, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "The Japanese invasion of Thailand, 8 December 1941", "How was Thailand Impacted in World War 2? [45], The prisoners of war "found themselves at the bottom of a social system that was harsh, punitive, fanatical, and often deadly. The remains of United States personnel were repatriated. [50] Charles died in December 2009. [73] Bad weather forced the cancellation of the mission and the AZON was never deployed against the bridge. 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'). 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. The majority of the army personnel were from the 8th Division. Photocopy. Most of the railway was dismantled shortly after the war. His account of the conditions and suffering endured by his fellow prisoners and himself makes for the most extraordinary and disturbing reading. 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. ARTICLE 30. Most of the camps were right alongside the railway track and some were near bridges and other vulnerable points. 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. The 'Market Garden' plan employed all three divisions of First Allied Airborne Army. Troops from the 7th Division embarked on the HMT Orcades arriving at Batavia from the Middle East in early 1942 in a last-minute effort to defend the Netherlands East Indies from Japanese attack. It is also the case that Australians distinctive national characteristics did not give them a greater chance of survival, as is sometimes assumed. 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. 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. 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. My Dad is not with us to tell his own story although he did keep a diary . "[46] The living and working conditions on the Burma Railway were often described as "horrific", with maltreatment, sickness, and starvation. The Burmese had welcomed the invasion by Japan and cooperated with Japan in recruiting workers. 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. Navy and the auxiliary forces of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. Burma Railway, also called Burma-Siam Railway, railway built during World War II connecting Bangkok and Moulmein (now Mawlamyine), Burma (Myanmar). These coolies have been brought from Malaya under false pretenses 'easy work, good pay, good houses!' Many men in the railway workforce bore the brunt of pitiless or uncaring guards. They were set to work building a camp at Nong Pladuk which would form a base for future groups of POWs. Japanese soldiers, 12,000 of them, including 800 Koreans, were employed on the railway as engineers, guards, and supervisors of the POW and rmusha labourers. [6], In early 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma and seized control of the colony from the United Kingdom. Used with permission of the author, Lilian Sluyter. This video is sponsored by Ground News - The world's first news comparison platform. 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). Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from 0 9 4 minutes read. The remaining sailors and marines, including Marvin Sizemore, were captured by the Japanese and found themselves building the Burma - Thailand railway as prisoners of war. description Object description. There is a popular perception that they also died at a higher rate than Australians. Rivers and canyons had to be bridged and sections of mountains had to be cut away to create a bed that was straight and level enough to accommodate the narrow-gauge track. Williams Force was based at Tanyin and Black Force at Beke Taung camp at Kilo 40. To supply their forces in Burma, the Japanese depended upon the sea, bringing supplies and troops to Burma around the Malay peninsula and through the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea. The Japanese had been surprised by the reaction of world opinion against their treatment of prisoners of war, and there is evidence that they began to feel apprehensive about the heavy casualties of 1943, and made efforts to counteract their reputation for uncivilised treatment of prisoners. The railway connected Thailand and Burma and was shut down in 1947, after the war. In 1939 the age limits for enlistment in the AIF were 19 to 35 years of age (higher for officers and some NCOs). Towards the end of the war there were also casualties from Allied bombing raids. 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. The Japanese kept no records and it was impossible for anyone else to do so, nor were the graves marked, but between 80,000 and 100,000 perished. Sixty-nine men were beaten to death by Japanese guards in the twelve weeks it took to build the cutting, and many more died from cholera, dysentery, starvation, and exhaustion. The wooden bridge was reused for pedestrians and cars. Unbeknown to his captors, and at the risk of losing his life if discovered, he kept a diary documenting life. Updates? Now they find themselves dumped in these charnel houses, driven and brutally knocked about by the Jap and Korean guards, unable to buy extra food, bewildered, sick, frightened. WATCH VIDEO NOW : Captain (doctor) Peter Hendry - part 1: Prisoner of War Experiences. Votes: 1,734. The 'Market Garden' plan employed all three divisions of First Allied Airborne Army. In the opening months of the Pacific War, Japanese forces struck Allied bases throughout the western Pacific and Southeast Asia as part of the so-called Southern Operation. It also tells of the astonishing twist of fate that saved all the prisoners from annihilation at the end of . Records of Naval Operating Forces, RG 313. Repeated reconnaissance flights over the Burma end of the railway started early in 1943, followed by bombings at intervals. New options were needed to support the Japanese forces in the Burma Campaign, and an overland route offered the most direct alternative. 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]. Work began at both ends of the rail line in June 1942. WAR Graves - Burma - Siam Railway On 6th December 1948 an expedition consisting of an officer, one Siamese interpreter, two police guards, one cook and one general duties coolie, left Kanburi for Takanun by motor boat. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Click Here To See Liberation Questionnaires. 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. Prisoners were made to work around the clock, with individual shifts lasting as long as 18 hours. There are good reasons for this. 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. 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. Second, the occupation of Burma would also put Japanese armies on the doorstep of British India. June 27, 2022, 5:24 PM. Initially, 1,000 prisoners worked on the bridge and were commanded by Colonel Philip Toosey. Map of Prisoner of War Camps. Burma Railway, also called Burma-Siam Railway, railway built during World War II connecting Bangkok and Moulmein (now Mawlamyine ), Burma ( Myanmar ). [53], The construction of the Burma Railway is counted as a war crime committed by Japan in Asia. Contact our Media sales & Licensing team about access. This is particularly true on Anzac Day (April 25), when Australians pay tribute to those who served and lost their lives during war. 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. The youth of many Australian prisoners of war was very evident and many enlisted at an age younger than 20. 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. The living and working conditions on the railway were horrific. 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 . Probably their motives were mixed: a desire for adventure, a sense of duty, nationalism and a conviction that they were part of a proud Australian military tradition dating from Gallipoli. In mid-1942, large numbers of POWs began to be transported to Thailand and Burma for the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway. A former British Army officer, who was tortured as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II, discovers that the man responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and sets out to confront him. The rail line was built along the Khwae Noi (Kwai) River valley to support the Japanese armed forces during the Burma Campaign. On 26 October 1942, British prisoners of war arrived at Tamarkan to construct the bridge. Yet many of them have shown extraordinary kindness to sick British prisoners passing down the river, giving them sugar and helping them into the railway trucks at Tarsao. Thereafter work on the railway consisted of maintenance, and repairs to damage caused by Allied bombing. The Prisoner List. 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 army in Burma. IWM collections, This media is not currently available. [74] Repairs were carried out by forced labour of POWs shortly after and by April the wooden railroad trestle bridge was back in operation. The 75th anniversary of the infamous Thai-Burma Railway built by World War II prisoners of war will be marked today. By far the majority of British POWs nearly 29 000 of them were sent to Thailand. The rail line was built along the Khwae Noi (Kwai) River valley to support the Japanese armed forces during the Burma Campaign. Presidio Pr; ISBN: 0891415777. The Prisoner List: The Film A short film about prisoners of the Japanese in WWII based on the book by Richard Kandler About the book The above film, made by Kate Owen and Danny Roberts, is based on Richard Kandler's book: The Prisoner List: A true story of defeat, captivity and salvation in the Far East 1941-45. [10][11] After preliminary work of airfields and infrastructure, construction of the railway began in Burma and Thailand on 16 September 1942. To these base hospitals desperately sick men - the weak supported by the less weak, since no fit men were allowed to accompany them - were evacuated from the camp hospitals, travelling by the haphazard means of hitch-hiking on a passing lorry or river barge. Some 30 000 of these prisoners of war later worked on the ThaiBurma railway. For much of its . 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. From Thai-Burma railway to Sandakan, WWII history buff unearths stories of Australian POWs. From the inmates of Colditz to the men who took part in the 'Great Escape . Some of their works were used as evidence in the trials of Japanese war criminals. This was the same time at which Australians in A Force left Changi for Burma. [78][79], In 1946,[89] the remains of most of the war dead were moved from former POW camps, burial grounds and lone graves along the rail line to official war cemeteries. [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. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burma_Railway&oldid=1133973618, Iron bridge across Kwae Yai River at Tha Makham, Arch Flanagan (19152013), Australian soldier and father of novelist, This page was last edited on 16 January 2023, at 11:22. [60] However, authorities agree that the percentage of deaths among the rmusha was much higher than among the Allied military personnel. [23][24] The money was used to compensate neighbouring countries and colonies for material stolen by Japan during the construction of the railway. The estimated number of civilian labourers and POWs who died during construction varies considerably, but the Australian Government figures suggest that of the 330,000 people who worked on the line (including 250,000 Asian labourers and 61,000 Allied POWs) about 90,000 of the labourers and about 16,000 Allied prisoners died.[30]. 368 of the 1,061 on board the USS Houston survived. [71], A first wooden railroad bridge over the Khwae Yai was finished in February 1943, which was soon accompanied by a more modern ferro-concrete bridge in June 1943, with both bridges running in a NNESSW direction across the river. utilisation of prisoner of war labour in japanese prisoner of war camps. Undoubtedly Australian POWs did display such qualities on the ThaiBurma railway and elsewhere. Part Two: Capture Examines the shock of capture for Australians, with first-hand accounts describing the physical circumstances of internment, and the feelin. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. With an enormous pool of captive labour at their disposal, the Japanese forced approximately 200,000 Asian conscripts and over 60,000 Allied POWs to construct the Burma Railway. These became more and more frequent when, towards the end of October 1943, trains full of Japanese troops and supplies began to go through from Thailand to Burma. 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. In the years that followed the military units to which the Australians belonged were broken up into work forces to meet the Japanese need for labour. More than 22 000 Australians were taken prisoner in the Asia-Pacific region in the early months of 1942. The longest and deepest cuttings in the railway occurred at Konyu, some 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Omissions? [32], One of the most notable portions of the entire railway line is Bridge 277, the so-called "Bridge on the River Kwai", which was built over a stretch of the river that was then known as part of the Mae Klong River. The construction of the railway is a heartbreaking story of forced labor, with more than 60,000 Allied prisoners of war . [33] Other documents suggest that more than 100,000 Malayan Tamils were brought into the project and around 60,000 perished.[35][36]. $14.00 View Detail This gave rise to the name of "River Kwai" in English. However, the British would form only a minority of the Allied POWs in Burma. [2], Thailand was a neutral country at the onset of World War II. This included personnel from USS Houston and the 131st Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard. Also sketches by POWs. Malaria, dysentery and pellagra (a vitamin deficiency disease) attacked the prisoners, and the number of sick in the camps was always high. The Burma- Death Railway. Vegetables and other perishables long in transit arrived rotten. The large population of local labourers, estimated to number around 100,000, had an even higher mortality rate. [28] One museum is in Myanmar side Thanbyuzayat,[95] and two other museums are in Kanchanaburi: the ThailandBurma Railway Centre,[96] opened in January 2003,[97] and the JEATH War Museum. After the railway was completed, the POWs still had almost two years to survive before liberation. The railway was to run 420 kilometres through rugged jungle. ", "Burma-Siam Railway - Australia receives no payment", "Grote schade aan materiaal der N.I. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. [21][22] The railway link between Thailand and Burma was to be separated again for protecting British interests in Singapore. THAILAND_POW_Camps_rosters (WO 361-2171) - Numerous rosters of POWs in Thailand. Articles on the Australian medical personnel working on the railway. They were joined in captivity by three hundred survivors of the sinking of the HMAS Perth in the Battle of Java Sea in late February 1942. Steve White-do-not-use. 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. 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. The dawn ceremony was held for the prisoners of war (POWs) who were forced to work and died on the Burma-Siam railway during the Japanese occupation. [75] Repair work soon commenced afterwards and continued again and both bridges were operational again by the end of May. Records of the Army Staff, RG 319. Parts of the abandoned route have been converted into a walking trail.[28]. This is a list of notable prisoners of war (POW) whose imprisonment attracted notable attention or influence, or who became famous afterwards. More than one in five of them died there. [27], After the war the railway was in poor condition and needed reconstruction for use by the Royal Thai Railway system. Whatever tensions there may have been during captivity, the Dutch, British and Australians who died on the ThaiBurma railway were buried together after the war. In the War Cemetery at Thanbyuzayat in Burma lie those from the northern half of 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 larger number of British deaths overall reflects the fact that there were simply more British working on the railway than Australians or Dutch POWs. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}140227N 993011E / 14.04083N 99.50306E / 14.04083; 99.50306, This article is about the railway constructed by Japan during World War II. Perception that they also died at a higher rate than Australians met at Nieke in November 1943, followed bombings. Utilisation of prisoner of war arrived at Tamarkan to construct the bridge were. 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