Just back from Thailand, have been to Kachanaburi, the province where the well-known Thai-Burmar Railroad passing through. Posting a few pics here...
The Thai-Burmar Railway
In Dec. 1941, the Pacific War began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii and the invasion of Malaya. By mid 1942, the Japanese forces were fighting against the British in Burmar. To maintain their armies in Burmar, the Japanese needed a more secure route than the sea. They decided to build a railway, 415 km long , through jungle and mountain from Ban Pong in Thai to Hhanbyuzayat in Burmar.
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Engineers had surveyed the 415 km route but expressed doubts about the economics of the project. However with a vast source of labor at their disposal in the form of Allied Prisoners of War it was planned to begin construction from both ends at once using meter gauge single track.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The first prisoners arriving at Ban Pong to begin construction on 23 June 1942[/font]
[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Prisoners were working at least 16 [/font]hours[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] up to 22 hours straight shifts, and once you fell down you seldom got up, you were kicked to death,[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]More than 16,000 prisoners died during the construction of the railway or about thirty-eight prisoners for every km of railway built. The prisoners died because of sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion. There was very little or no medical treatment available and many prisoners suffered horribly before they died.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The prisoner's diet consisted of rice and salted vegetables served twice a day. Sometimes they were forced to work up to sixteen hours a day under atrocious conditions. Many prisoners were tortured for the smallest offenses. The Japanese commander's motto was "if you work hard you will be treated well, but if you do not work hard you will be punished."[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Punishments included savage beatings, being made to kneel on sharp sticks while holding a boulder for one to three hours at a time and being tied to a tree with barbed wire and left there for two to three days without any food or water.
Most prisoners were barefooted, and had only a loincloth. Nothing in the way of clothing nothing in the way of what we consider the necessities of life including food.[/font] [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Working with a sledgehammer and tap to clear massive rocks that lay in the railway's path, and that prisoners at first did not know they were building a railway.[/font]
The Thai-Burmar Railway
In Dec. 1941, the Pacific War began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii and the invasion of Malaya. By mid 1942, the Japanese forces were fighting against the British in Burmar. To maintain their armies in Burmar, the Japanese needed a more secure route than the sea. They decided to build a railway, 415 km long , through jungle and mountain from Ban Pong in Thai to Hhanbyuzayat in Burmar.
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Engineers had surveyed the 415 km route but expressed doubts about the economics of the project. However with a vast source of labor at their disposal in the form of Allied Prisoners of War it was planned to begin construction from both ends at once using meter gauge single track.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The first prisoners arriving at Ban Pong to begin construction on 23 June 1942[/font]
[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Prisoners were working at least 16 [/font]hours[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] up to 22 hours straight shifts, and once you fell down you seldom got up, you were kicked to death,[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]More than 16,000 prisoners died during the construction of the railway or about thirty-eight prisoners for every km of railway built. The prisoners died because of sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion. There was very little or no medical treatment available and many prisoners suffered horribly before they died.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The prisoner's diet consisted of rice and salted vegetables served twice a day. Sometimes they were forced to work up to sixteen hours a day under atrocious conditions. Many prisoners were tortured for the smallest offenses. The Japanese commander's motto was "if you work hard you will be treated well, but if you do not work hard you will be punished."[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Punishments included savage beatings, being made to kneel on sharp sticks while holding a boulder for one to three hours at a time and being tied to a tree with barbed wire and left there for two to three days without any food or water.
Most prisoners were barefooted, and had only a loincloth. Nothing in the way of clothing nothing in the way of what we consider the necessities of life including food.[/font] [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Working with a sledgehammer and tap to clear massive rocks that lay in the railway's path, and that prisoners at first did not know they were building a railway.[/font]