The Death Railway

One Prisoner Of War died for every 32.6 metres of track.
There were 424 thousand metres of track.
How many died and are buried along the way?

(Answer to be found at the end of this post.)

Kanchanaburi




Kanchanaburi is Thailand´s third largest of 76 provinces. It is located 130 km west of Bangkok and covers an area of 19,480 km².

About 735,000 inhabitant are living in Kanchanaburi province which borders Myanmar (Burma) at the north-west.


Kanchanaburi is Thailand´s third largest of 76 provinces. It is located 130 km west of Bangkok and covers an area of 19,480 km². About 735,000 inhabitant are living in Kanchanaburi province which borders Myanmar (Burma) at the north-west.


It has a population of 54,000 and was originally established by King Rama I as a first line of defence against the Burmese, who might use the old invasion route through the Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Myanmar border.



It is situated on the River Kwai and the home of the famous Bridge on the River Kwai. Every year in late November and early December the River Kwai Bridge Festival is held at the bridge with a spectacular Sound & Light Show. This event help to reminds us about the history of the Death Railway and the bombardments during World War II.



The Death Railway.



In 1943 thousands of Allied Prisoners of War (PoW) and Asian labourers worked on the Death Railway under the imperial Japanese army in order to construct part of the 415 km long Burma-Thailand railway.

Most of these men were Australians, Dutch and British and they had been working steadily southwards from Thanbyuzayat (Burma) to link with other PoW on the Thai side of the railway.

This railway was intended to move men and supplies to the Burmese front where the Japanese were fighting the British.

Japanese army engineers selected the route which traversed deep valleys and hills. All the heavy work was done manually either by hand or by elephant as earth moving equipment was not available.

The railway line originally ran within 50 meters of the Three Pagodas Pass which marks nowadays the border to Burma. However after the war the entire railway was removed and sold as it was deemed unsafe and politically undesirable.

The prisoners lived in squalor with a near starvation diet. They were subjected to captor brutality and thus thousands perished. The men worked from dawn until after dark and often had to trudge many kilometres through the jungle to return to base camp where Allied doctors tended the injured and diseased by many died.

After the war the dead were collectively reburied in the War Cemeteries and will remain forever witness to a brutal and tragic ordeal.


The above information was obtained from this website

http://www.kanchanaburi-info.com/en/index.html

Post Reading activity

Choose one of the question and answer it. Please include your name and class when you post your comments.

1. Do you think the Japanese treated the Prisoner of War(POW) well?

2.If you were one of the Japanese in charge of the POW how would you threat them?

3. Why do yo think it is important for us to remember what had happen during World War II ?


Additional Resources
Try to visits these sites for more information
http://www.scottmurray.com/bridge.htm

http://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/Death_Railway/index.htm

• One POW died for every 32.6 metres of track.
• there were 424 thousand metres of track
• 13,000 died and are buried along the way