After entering the Second World War in December 1941,
Japanese forces quickly overran most of south East Asia. In 1942, in order to
find a shorter and more secure line of supply between Burma [now Myanmar] and
Siam [now Thailand], the Japanese decided to use prisoners of war and civilian
labour to build a single line railway to link existing railheads at Thnbayuzayat
in the west and Ban Pong in the east. Two forces, one based in Siam and one in
Burma, worked from opposite ends of the line, meeting at Konkuita in October
1943. The project cost the lives of approximately 15,000 prisoners of war and
100,000 civilians as a result of sickness, malnutrition, exhaustion and
mistreatment.
The River Kwai Bridge was in use for 20 months before Allied
Bombed it in 1945. The Japanese even tied Allied POW’s on the Bridge to
discourage Allied bombing.
On the train of death that we travelled on for one and a
half hour, we were told that one person died for every railway sleeper that was
lied down.
