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The idea of building a permanent rail link
between Burma through Thailand to China
was first raised in the 1880's by the British colonial authorities in Burma. The
route considered was between Phitsanoluk in
northern Thailand (then
the Kingdom of Siam)
and Moulmein in Burma.
However no investment was forthcoming and the idea was shelved.
As early as 1939, Japanese agents in Thailand were preparing the ground for the
construction of the railway, once Japanese forces had taken control of South-East Asia. The railway was intended purely as a
strategic military supply line for the movement of troops and equipment to
the Burma Front, and ultimately for the invasion of India.
The Japanese had originally intended to
use an Asian workforce to construct the railway, and indeed most of the
railway labourers were from Burma, Java and Malaya
- some 240,000 seems to be the most reliable estimate. However with the fall
of Malaya, Singapore
and Indonesia
(then the Netherlands East Indies) in 1942, the occupying forces found
themselves with a large number of prisoners of war, an event they had not
planned for. What to do with these prisoners was a vexed question for the
Japanese military administration for the first few weeks of their rule. It
was then decided that these men - skilled, disciplined military personnel -
were to be used to further the Japanese war effort.
Gradually the PoWs
were grouped into 'Forces' and sent to work on various projects. Some went to
Japan to work in mines and construction gangs, others to Saigon to do dock
work, and still others to various parts of the newly created 'Greater East
Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere'. The first group of PoWs who were ultimately to work on the railway,
were those of 'A Force'. These 3,000 men were sent by ship to from Singapore to various places in Burma to work
on airfield construction. Later in 1942 these isolated groups were
concentrated at Thanbyuzayat to begin work on the Burma end of
the railway. Construction began in June 1942, under the direction of the
Imperial Japanese Army's 5th and 9th Railway Regiments. Gradually more forces
were sent to Burma and Thailand; in
total more than 60,000 prisoners of war were transported to the railway
project during 1942-3. At the same time the 'Sweat Army' of labourers from Burma, ostensibly volunteers but
many conscripted by the puppet Burmese government, toiled on the construction
work. Conditions in Malaya after the capitulation of the Allies caused the
collapse of agricultural production, forcing many undernourished Malayan
plantation workers - mostly of Tamil extraction - to volunteer for work on
the railway, the terms being "A dollar and a pound of rice per
day". Many went purely for the rice.
The 415km line linking the Thai and
Burmese railway systems was constructed simultaneously from both ends, Thanbyuzyat in Burma
and Nong Pladuk in Thailand. The
appalling conditions for those working on the railway are well documented
elsewhere. The numbers of deaths speak for themselves. Disease (particularly
dysentery, malaria, beriberi and savage cholera epidemics), starvation
rations, overwork, poor or no accommodation or sanitation, and the individual
brutality of Japanese and Korean engineers and guards, took their inevitable
toll. Over 13,000 prisoners of war perished during the period between late
1942 and late 1945. The numbers of deaths of the Asian labourers
is harder to calculate; around 100,000 seems to be
the most reliable figure. During the infamous 'speedo'
period, July to October 1943, the desperation of the Japanese engineers to
finish construction on time, under severe pressure from their superiors in Tokyo, meant that many
men were forced to do grinding manual labour around
the clock - 62 hours work out of 72 hours appears to be the record. Rest days
were rare. This, combined with the first outbreak of cholera, caused the
death toll to reach its peak during this time.
The Thai and Burmese sections of line were
joined near Konkoita in October 1943. Actual
construction took a mere sixteen months - some would say a remarkable
engineering feat. After the line was completed all of the PoWs
were transferred from remote jungle camps to base camps and hospitals. Some,
after recovery, formed new work parties destined for Japan, others returned to Singapore. A
large number of PoWs remained in the Thailand base
camps until the end of the war.
The majority of the Asian labourers remained in the jungle camps to operate the
railway under Japanese command, and to undertake maintenance work on the
line. From time to time PoW work parties were taken
back onto the line to carry out maintenance work and cut wood fuel for the
locomotives. This work became crucial to the Japanese; the situation on the
Burma Front was becoming critical for them and their vulnerability in the
waters of the South China Sea meant that the
railway was a vital supply route that had, at all costs, to remain
operational. An average of six trains per day operated for the life of the
line, well below original Japanese expectations but still a major
contribution to their strength on the Burmese Front.
The railway continued to operate, with
some interruptions, until the final victory of Allied forces in August 1945.
Slowly the prisoners of war and Asian labourers
were rehabilitated and returned home. Some former PoW's
remained in Thailand and Burma to
recover their comrades from remote maintenance camps, and to work on grave
recovery parties. The railway then fell into disuse through lack of
maintenance, and in 1947 the line and rolling stock were sold to the Thai
Government. The money being used for war reparations and to compensate those
countries who lost rail stock to the Japanese. By
1957 the Thai government re-opened the section of line from Nong Pladuk to Nam Tok (known during wartime as Tha
Sao), and this part of the railway still operates today. Much of the
abandoned section has now been reclaimed by the jungle, but embankments,
cuttings and bridge sites can still be found
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