Death Railway

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The Bridge over the river Kwai

Map of the Death Railway

The Death Railway (known also as Thai-Burma Railway or Burma Railway) was a railway built from Thailand to Burma (now Myanmar) by the Japanese during World War II to complete the route from Bangkok to Rangoon and support the Japanese occupation of Burma. It was so called because of the human cost of its construction. About 200,000 conscripted Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied POWs were forced to work on the railway. Of these, around 100,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) died on the project. The Allied POW dead were made up of 6,318 British, 2,815 Australians, 2,490 Dutch and 4,377 from the USA (Wigmore, p588).

1 Purpose for Construction
2 Memorials
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Purpose for Construction

Japan was given right of passage to Thailand and occupied Burma during the Pacific War. However, when the sea route through the Strait of Malacca became vulnerable, an alternative way of transporting support to the troops in Burma was needed. A railway connection between Thailand and Burma had already been surveyed at the beginning of the 20th century by the British, but was considered too difficult to complete. The Japanese, nevertheless, started the project in June 1942, intending to connect Ban Pong with Thanbyuzayat by the Three Pagoda Pass. Construction started at both ends of the line at roughly the same time, the Thai end on June 22, 1942. Most railway materials (tracks, sleepers etc.) were carted from dismantled branches of the Federated States of Malaya Railways (FMSR - now known as Keretapi Tanah Melayu) rail network.

After 18 months, the 415 kilometers of railway were finished, when on October 17, 1943, the two lines met about 18 km south of the Three Pagoda Pass at Konkuita (Kaeng Khoi Tha in Songklaburi district of Kanchanaburi). While most of the POWs were then transferred to Japan, those left to maintain the line still suffered from the appalling living conditions as well as Allied air raids.

The most famous part of the railway is the bridge over the Khwae Yai River (Thai แควใหญ่, English big tributary), originally the Mae Klong River and renamed Khwae Yai River in 1960. It is called the River Kwai in the book by Pierre Boulle and the later film The Bridge on the River Kwai. The first wooden bridge over the Khwae Noi (Thai แควน้อย, English small tributary) was finished in February 1943, followed by a concrete and steel bridge in June 1943. Both bridges were destroyed on April 2, 1945, by the AZON crews of the 458th Heavy Bombardment Group USAAF, although they had already been damaged and repaired several times before. The two squarish central sections of the current bridge were made in Japan and donated to Thailand to repair the bridge as war reparations.

Along the Death Railway today, River Khwae on the left

After the war the railway was in too poor a state to be used for the civil Thai railway system, and needed heavy reconstruction. On June 24, 1949, the first part from Kanchanaburi to Nong Pladuk (Thai หนองปลาดุก) was finished; on April 1, 1952, the next section up to Wampo (Wang Pho); and finally on July 1, 1958, up to Nam Tok (Thai น้ำตก, English waterfalls.) The portion of the railway still in use measures about 130 km. Beyond Nam Tok, the line has been abandoned. Steel rails have been removed for reuse in expanding the Bangsue Railway Yard, reinforcing the BKK - Banphachi double track, rehabilitating the track from Thung Song to Trang, and constructing both the Nong Pladuk - Suphanburi and Ban Thung Pho - Khirirat Nikhom branch lines. Parts of it have been converted into a walking trail. Since the 1990s there have been plans to rebuild the complete railway, but these plans have not yet come to fruition.

The living and working conditions on the railway were horrific. About 25% of the POW workers died because of overwork, malnutrition, and diseases like cholera, malaria, and dysentery. The death rate of the Asian workers was even higher; the number who died is unknown, as the Japanese did not count them. The estimated total number of those who perished during the construction is about 100,000-170,000.

Several memorials were built on the Thai side after the war. At the Khwae bridge is a memorial plaque, and a historic locomotive is on display as well (C-56 No. 719, P Class No. 804 or so). Another memorial built by the Australians is at the Hellfire Pass, a landcut where the greatest number of lives were lost. The main POW cemetery is in the city of Kanchanaburi. 6,982 POWs were buried there, mostly British, Dutch, Australian, and American. A smaller cemetery a bit farther outside city is Chong Kai with 1,750 graves. Both are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The construction of the Death Railway is only one of many major war crimes committed by Japan in Asia during the war. It is regarded as a major event in the Asian Holocaust, during which over 15 million Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Indonesian, Burmese, Indochinese civilians, Pacific Islanders, and Allied POWs were killed.

[edit] Memorials

There are several museums dedicated to those who lost their lives constructing the railway, the best of which is at Hellfire Pass, north of the current terminus at Nam Tok. Two other museums are in Kanchanaburi, the Thailand-Burma Railway Museum, opened in March 2003, and the JEATH War Museum. There is also a preserved section of line and memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, England.