| In
1942-43, during World War 11, the imperial Japanese Army
built a railway from Ban Pong, in Thailand, to Thanbyuzayat,
in Burma. This railway, 415 kilometers long, and built through
some of the most inhospitable disease ridden terrain in
the world, it was to supply a large Japanese Army in Burma.
The
railway was constructed using an absolute minimum of mechanical
equipment and a maximum of human effort.
The
project resulted in a huge loss of life of the Allied Prisoners
of War (POWs) and Asian forced labourers that were used
to construct it. An estimated 13,000 POWs and 80,000 Asian
labourers died of disease, sickness, starvation and brutality
at the hands of the Japanese Army.
It
has been written that 'this railway was built at the cost
of a life for every sleeper in its 415 Kilometer journey'.
This page is only but a doorway to the survivors and nightmare
of the infamous 'Death Railway' and the Bridge on The River
Kwai.
|
Above:
POWs at work in Hellfire Pass
(Konyu Cutting) Artists Impression
|
