burma railway prisoners of war list

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The railway was to run 420 kilometres through rugged jungle. [48][49] In the foreword to Charles's book, James D. Hornfischer summarizes: "Dr. Henri Hekking was a tower of psychological and emotional strength, almost shamanic in his power to find and improvise medicines from the wild prison of the jungle". [3][4] Thailand was forced to accept an alliance,[5] and was used as a staging point for the attack on Singapore. The railway, built by the Empire of Japan in 1943 to support its attack on the British colony of Burma, used forced labour, including Asian civilians and Allied prisoners of war, many thousands of . Another cohort of 450 US personnel suffered 100 deaths. Their death rates on the ThaiBurma railway were little different from the British and higher than the Dutch. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. [69] An unknown number of Malayan workers were housed in a nearby camp. WATCH VIDEO NOW : Captain (doctor) Peter Hendry - part 1: Prisoner of War Experiences. Railway Construction Camp - Kanya, Thailand. Lieutenant General Eiguma Ishida, overall commander of the Burma Railway, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. There, approximately 20% of the Allied POWs died during its construction. POWs and Asian workers were also used to build the Kra Isthmus Railway from Chumphon to Kra Buri, and the Sumatra or Palembang Railway from Pekanbaru to Muaro. The railway track from Kanchanaburi - photographed in 1945. The British people were now resigned to the fact that Hitler had to be stopped by force. (Supplied: Andrew Glynn) Families find long-lost answers Australian POW Prisoners of War Books about Thai Burma Railway Hellfire Pass Military Books DVD Docos. The British people were now resigned to the fact that Hitler had to be stopped by force. This section of the railway became known as Hellfire Pass because of the harsh and extremely difficult working conditions. The first train to pass Konkoita on the newly constructed Burma-Thailand railway, built for the Japanese by prisoner of war (POW) labour. Altogether, some 35,000 parachute and glider troops were involved in the operation. Prisoners were made to work around the clock, with individual shifts lasting as long as 18 hours. [30] Other nationalities and ethnic groups working on the railway were Tamils, Chinese, Karen, Javanese, and Singaporean Chinese. New options were needed to support the Japanese forces in the Burma Campaign, and an overland route offered the most direct alternative. Education Zone | Developed By Rara Theme. The Death Railway. 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. Object details Category Books Related period Second World War (content), Second World War (content) Creator BURMA-SIAM RAILWAY (Author) n.pub. Click Here To See Liberation Questionnaires. A bridge was not built until the Thanlwin Bridge (carrying both regular road and railroad traffic) was constructed between 2000 and 2005. 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. [60] However, authorities agree that the percentage of deaths among the rmusha was much higher than among the Allied military personnel. Thinking back, she recalls the Australian man who made a great sacrifice to aid her and her fellow prisoners of war. Its route was through Three Pagodas Pass on the border of Thailand and Burma. Most of the camps were right alongside the railway track and some were near bridges and other vulnerable points. 61,000 Prisoners of War were forced to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway in the most atrocious conditions. Records of Naval Operating Forces, RG 313. Williams Force was based at Tanyin and Black Force at Beke Taung camp at Kilo 40. Undoubtedly Australian POWs did display such qualities on the ThaiBurma railway and elsewhere. From the inmates of Colditz to the men who took part in the 'Great Escape . This included personnel from USS Houston and the 131st Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard. Prisoners of War 330,000 people worked on building the railway, including 250,000 Asian laborers and 61,000 prisoners of war (POWs). Among the Allied POWs were some 30,000 British, 13,000 Australians, 18,000 Dutch, and 700 Americans. [30][33], In early 1943, the Japanese advertised for workers in Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies, promising good wages, short contracts, and housing for families. 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. 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. 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. 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. Published by Marsworth. A Bill Aldag Fergus Anckorn Charles Groves Wright Anderson Ken Anderson (politician) Harold Atcherley B Henri Baaij Edmund W. Barker Theo Bot Russell Braddon Jim Bradley (British Army officer) Gerard Bruggink C John Carrick (Australian politician) Johannes Gijsbertus de Casparis Forde Everard de Wend Cayley Fred Chadwick Jack Bridger Chalker 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. Subcategories Grid List There are 23 products. On this end of the railway the workforce was largely Australian, Dutch and local rmusha. Four prisoners of war with beri-beri, Nam Tok, 1943 Life and death on the railway The railway took 12 months to build, with final completion on 16 October 1943. Construction was extremely difficult, with the route crossing through thick, mosquito-infested jungle and uneven terrain while monsoon conditions prevailed. Chungkai War Cemetery, near Kanchanaburi, has a further 1,693 war graves. [75] Repair work soon commenced afterwards and continued again and both bridges were operational again by the end of May. When Britainwent to waron 3 September 1939 there was none of the 'flag-waving patriotism' of August 1914. 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. [59], Several museums are dedicated to those who perished building the railway. Director Jonathan Teplitzky Writers Frank Cottrell Boyce (screenplay) Andy Paterson (screenplay) Eric Lomax (book) Stars 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. It is also the case that Australians distinctive national characteristics did not give them a greater chance of survival, as is sometimes assumed. More commonly called the Burma or Thai-Burma Railway, it was a major project during Allied Far East imprisonment under the Japanese. 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. 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. Updates? [44], The construction camps consisted of open-sided barracks built of bamboo poles with thatched roofs. [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. 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. The two parties met at Nieke in November 1943, and the line - 263 miles long - was completed by December. 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. 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. Records of the Army Staff, RG 319. 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. 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. [62], Workers in more isolated areas suffered a much higher death rate than did others. His account of the conditions and suffering endured by his fellow prisoners and himself makes for the most extraordinary and disturbing reading. 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. [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. 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. My Dad is not with us to tell his own story although he did keep a diary . [73], The two bridges were successfully bombed and damaged on 13 February 1945 by bomber aircraft from the Royal Air Force (RAF). 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 Burma Railway, also called the Death Railway, was built between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Burma, put together with a ready supply of labour in the form of. A great deal of equipment was improvised by the medical officers and orderlies, and food and medicines were clandestinely obtained. The remains of the notorious F-Force camp in Thailand. The longest and deepest cuttings in the railway occurred at Konyu, some 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Download Ground News for free here: https://ground.news/megaprojectsSimo. From Thai-Burma railway to Sandakan, WWII history buff unearths stories of Australian POWs. The rail line was built along the Khwae Noi (Kwai) River valley to support the Japanese armed forces during the Burma Campaign. 3:09pm Oct 16, 2018. [73] Bad weather forced the cancellation of the mission and the AZON was never deployed against the bridge. The defendants were charged with crimes against Western prisoners of war and civilians and with crimes against local people. 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. Some of their works were used as evidence in the trials of Japanese war criminals. [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). 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? The British POWs suffered the highest number of dead of any Allied group on the ThaiBurma railway. At Chungkai War Cemetery and Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in Thailand now rest those recovered from the southern part of the line, from Ban Pong to Nieke - about half its length. Approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. Around 90,000 civilians died, as did more than 12,000 Allied prisoners. 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. [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. 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. [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. Dutch chemist Van Boxtell. After the railway was completed, the POWs still had almost two years to survive before liberation. Vegetables and other perishables long in transit arrived rotten. 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. Burma Railway, also called Burma-Siam Railway, railway built during World War II connecting Bangkok and Moulmein (now Mawlamyine), Burma (Myanmar). The youth of many Australian prisoners of war was very evident and many enlisted at an age younger than 20. While civilians were generally treated better than military prisoners, conditions in Japanese captivity were almost universally deplorable. 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. 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. To pursue those ends and to support their continued offensives in the Burma theatre, the Japanese began construction of what came to be known as the Burma Railway. ARTICLE 29. Some 30 000 of these prisoners of war later worked on the ThaiBurma railway. Sort by: POW Thai Burma Death. 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. From late 1942 more than 13 000 Australians were sent from Singapore, Java and Timor to work on the ThaiBurma railway. The Long Dark How To Get To Radio Tower, Preet Bharara Daughter, State Street Executive Vice President Salary, Articles B