[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. [61], Weight loss among Allied officers who worked on construction was, on average, 914kg (2030lb) less than that of enlisted personnel. A large number of the British and Australian captives were sent to Burma (Myanmar). 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. They were treated brutally by the Japanese, and struggled with tropical diseases and the effects of malnutrition. The final group of Dutch arrived in Burma as part of Group 5 in April 1943, bringing the total of Dutch in Burma to around 4600. Other parties were employed on cutting and building roads, some through virgin jungle, or in building defence positions. [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. Though medical consequences of war attract attention, the health consequences of the prisoner-of-war (POW) experience are poorly researched and apprec . More commonly called the Burma or Thai-Burma Railway, it was a major project during Allied Far East imprisonment under the Japanese. Articles on the Australian medical personnel working on the railway. From late 1942 more than 13 000 Australians were sent from Singapore, Java and Timor to work on the ThaiBurma railway. Railway Construction Camp - Kanya, Thailand. 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. [19], As an American engineer said after viewing the project, "What makes this an engineering feat is the totality of it, the accumulation of factors. Dancing Along the Deadline : The Andersonville Memoir of a Prisoner of the Confederacy. The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project, driven by the need for improved communication to support the large Japanese army in Burma. The 'Market Garden' plan employed all three divisions of First Allied Airborne Army. Director Jonathan Teplitzky Writers Frank Cottrell Boyce (screenplay) Andy Paterson (screenplay) Eric Lomax (book) Stars 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. [14][15][16], The railway was completed ahead of schedule. Among the Allied POWs were some 30,000 British, 13,000 Australians, 18,000 Dutch, and 700 Americans. 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. This was to be over 400 Km long through inhospitable jungle and hills. The majority of the army personnel were from the 8th Division. The higher deaths in F Force were probably attributable to the fact that British workers contained a high proportion of men who were already ill when they left Singapore. Australian POW Prisoners of War Books about Thai Burma Railway Hellfire Pass Military Books DVD Docos. Much of the excavation was carried out with inadequate hand tools, and, because work on the railway had fallen behind schedule, the pace of work was increased. In October 1943, the railway station was finished. [23] On 1 February 1947, two people including Momluang Kri Dechatiwong[th], the Thai Minister of Transport, were killed on an inspection tour because the bridge near Konkoita had collapsed. Ron Arad Israeli fighter pilot, shot down over Lebanon in 1986. . 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. The railway was to run 420 kilometres through rugged jungle. 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 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). Construction was extremely difficult, with the route crossing through thick, mosquito-infested jungle and uneven terrain while monsoon conditions prevailed. 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. Two hundred men were housed in each barracks, giving each man a two-foot wide space in which to live and sleep. The Burmese had welcomed the invasion by Japan and cooperated with Japan in recruiting workers. 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. [62], Workers in more isolated areas suffered a much higher death rate than did others. (Supplied: Andrew Glynn) Families find long-lost answers Deel 8 De tragedie van de Birma-Siam Spoorweg", "The Railway Man: Australian keeps legacy of Thailand's 'Death Railway' alive helping relatives of POWs gain closure", Captive Audiences/Captive Performers: Music and Theatre as Strategies for Survival on the Thailand-Burma Railway 19421945, Works of Ashley George Old held by the State Library of Victoria. In Burma, most of which had been reoccupied by British forces before the end of hostilities, 40 trials took place in Rangoon (now Yangon), Mandalay and Maymyo in 1946 and 1947. 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. The remains of the notorious F-Force camp in Thailand. This is ironic, since for most of the war in the Pacific Changi was, in reality, one of the most benign of the Japanese prisoner-of-war camps; its privations were relatively minor compared to those of others, particularly those on the Burma-Thailand railway. The working conditions were appalling. Work began at both ends of the rail line in June 1942. Japanese Medical Orderly. 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. [73], The two bridges were successfully bombed and damaged on 13 February 1945 by bomber aircraft from the Royal Air Force (RAF). Contact our Media sales & Licensing team about access, whole: Dimensions: 30x21cm., Pagination: [5] leaves 4 plans. 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 Memorial sites along the route of the railway include the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, where nearly 7,000 Allied dead are interred, and . [3][4] Thailand was forced to accept an alliance,[5] and was used as a staging point for the attack on Singapore. 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. Imprest Burmese and Malay labourers too died in their thousands - exactly how many will never be known. There were additionally about 250,000 natives (coolies) who were previously residents of countries including Java, Ambon, Singapore, Malaya, Burma and Tamils who had been working in some of these countries. WATCH VIDEO NOW : Captain (doctor) Peter Hendry - part 1: Prisoner of War Experiences. Subcategories Grid List There are 23 products. Download Ground News for free here: https://ground.news/megaprojectsSimo. All of that makes this railway an extraordinary accomplishment."[20]. Camps were usually named after the kilometre where they were located. This is the bridge that still remains today. Most of the railway was dismantled shortly after the war. 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. Williams Force was based at Tanyin and Black Force at Beke Taung camp at Kilo 40. The rice was of poor quality, frequently maggoty or in other ways contaminated, and fish, meat, oil, salt and sugar were on a minimum scale. Yet in relative terms, Australian POW deaths were very significant, accounting for around 20 per cent of all Australian deaths in World War II. Used with permission of the author, Lilian Sluyter. Abstract. Also sketches by POWs. 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. Work on the railway started at Thanbyuzayat on 1st October 1942 and somewhat later at Ban Pong. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. In contrast, only 4000 Australians were captured by the Germans and Ottomans in World War I. Java was the place where the second largest group of Australians was captured. 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. 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. For example, a group of 400 Dutch prisoners, which included three doctors with extensive tropical medicine experience, suffered no deaths at all. In these camps entertainment flourished as an essential part of their rehabilitation. Some of their works were used as evidence in the trials of Japanese war criminals. [42][43] Workers were moved up and down the railway line as needed. After the railway was completed, the POWs still had almost two years to survive before liberation. 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. Repeated reconnaissance flights over the Burma end of the railway started early in 1943, followed by bombings at intervals. He was taken to Ambon and apparently died in 1944 on board ship returning from Ambon to Java, After the war he was officially reported to have died on 6th September 1944 and buried at sea. At the end of the war, the Japanese Armed Forces destroyed all documents related to the POW Camps. [45], The prisoners of war "found themselves at the bottom of a social system that was harsh, punitive, fanatical, and often deadly. The movement of POWs northward from Changi Prison in Singapore and other prison camps in Southeast Asia began in May 1942. In Burma. 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. They were outnumbered by the British, the Dutch and large cohorts of Asian labourers (rmusha), particularly Burmese and Tamils from Malaya. The first train to pass Konkoita on the newly constructed Burma-Thailand railway, built for the Japanese by prisoner of war (POW) labour. [39] More prisoners of war were imported from Singapore and the Dutch East Indies as construction advanced. Burma Railway, also called Burma-Siam Railway, railway built during World War II connecting Bangkok and Moulmein (now Mawlamyine), Burma (Myanmar). Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, RG 331. 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. 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. Map Created by Philip Cross July 2000. Even though defeated, they displayed the Anzac skills of resourcefulness, laconic humour, mateship and survival against the odds. One factor was that many European and US doctors had little experience with tropical diseases. Contact our Media sales & Licensing team about access. More than 12,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and tens of thousands of forced labourers perished during its construction. 1, 5 - 9 Their experience under these extreme wartime conditions is examined to discover the likely contribution of malaria-associated mortality to the total number of deaths. The Dutch formed the second largest contingent of Allied prisoners of war on the ThaiBurma railway, after the British. Highlights. 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 . However, the British would form only a minority of the Allied POWs in Burma. [100], A preserved section of line has been rebuilt at the National Memorial Arboretum in England.[101]. When the Japanese were not satisfied with the pace of work, prisoners were forced to endure atrocious physical punishment, and some 700 Allied prisoners died or were killed at Hellfire Pass. [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. Thailand - Burma Railway. Since 1945 prisoners of war and the Burma-Thailand railway have come to occupy a central place in Australia's national memory of World War II. Lieutenant General Eiguma Ishida, overall commander of the Burma Railway, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. 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. 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. In addition, approximately 130,000 civiliansincluding some 40,000 childrenwere captured by the Japanese. Dutch chemist Van Boxtell. For much of its . Second, the occupation of Burma would also put Japanese armies on the doorstep of British India. Many are now held by the Australian War Memorial, State Library of Victoria, and the Imperial War Museum in London. Thus, ferries were needed as an alternative connecting system. The quality of medical care received by different groups of prisoners varied enormously. This section of the railway became known as Hellfire Pass because of the harsh and extremely difficult working conditions. The railway track from Kanchanaburi - photographed in 1945. The two parties met at Nieke in November 1943, and the line - 263 miles long - was completed by December. They have no latrines. Life in the POW camps was recorded at great risk by artists such as Jack Bridger Chalker, Philip Meninsky, John Mennie, Ashley George Old, and Ronald Searle. 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). Jayma April 17, 2022. 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. Powered by WordPress. Those who have no known grave are commemorated by name on memorials elsewhere; the land forces on either the Rangoon Memorial or the Singapore Memorial and the naval casualties on memorials at the manning ports. Altogether, some 35,000 parachute and glider troops were involved in the operation. The Japanese hoped to capture the Indian region of Assam, with the intention of using it as the base for an insurrection under the Japanese-backed Indian revolutionary leader Subhas Chandra Bose. [70], The bridge was made famous by Pierre Boulle's novel The Bridge over the River Kwai and its film adaptation, The Bridge on the River Kwai. See more ideas about prisoners of war, war, historical. He served 11 years. New options were needed to support the Japanese forces in the Burma Campaign, and an overland route offered the most direct alternative. Burma Railway, also called Burma-Siam Railway, railway built during World War II connecting Bangkok and Moulmein (now Mawlamyine ), Burma ( Myanmar ). His account of the conditions and suffering endured by his fellow prisoners and himself makes for the most extraordinary and disturbing reading. On 16 January 1946, the British ordered Japanese POWs to remove a four kilometre stretch of rail between Nikki (Ni Thea) and Sonkrai. Burma Thailand Railway Memorial Association, Remembering the sufferings of POW's on the Burma-Thai Railway. Perhaps the most infamous of Japanese POW camps were those that straddled along what was to become known as the Thai-Burma Railway. The youth of many Australian prisoners of war was very evident and many enlisted at an age younger than 20. The Factors of Survival. On this end of the railway the workforce was largely Australian, Dutch and local rmusha. The living and working conditions on the railway were horrific. About 60,000 were sent to work on the railway; 13,000 of them were Australian. The second largest group of prisoners more than 2700 were captured on Java. Little detailed research has been done on the background of Australian POWs and how this affected their chances of survival. Australians were not the largest national group on the railway. Although working conditions were far better for the Japanese than the POWs and rmusha workers, about 1,000 (eight percent) of them died during construction. Thereafter work on the railway consisted of maintenance, and repairs to damage caused by Allied bombing. To avoid a hazardous 2,000-mile (3,200km) sea journey around the Malay peninsula, a railway from Bangkok to Rangoon seemed a feasible alternative. "[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. This is particularly true on Anzac Day (April 25), when Australians pay tribute to those who served and lost their lives during war. Only the first 130 kilometres (81mi) of the line in Thailand remained, with trains still running as far north as Nam Tok. [34] Approximately 90,000 Burmese and 75,000 Malayans worked on the railroad. On 8 December 1941, Japan invaded Thailand which quickly surrendered. 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. 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. 69 miles (111km) of the railway were in Burma and the remaining 189 miles (304km) were in Thailand. Some 30 000 of these prisoners of war later worked on the Thai-Burma 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. 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. 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