"Death Railway" - Building of The Thai–burma Railway

Introduction

The Thai–Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, the Thailand-Burma Railway, and the Burma-Siam Railway, was a 415-kilometre railway connecting Ban Pong, Thanbyuzayat, and Thailand with Burma. It was created by the Empire of Japan in 1943 to sustain its influence in the Burma campaign during World War II. Its function was to provide Japanese forces in Burma with a detour through sea routes, which had become susceptible when Japanese naval strength was reduced in the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway in May and June 1942. Once the railway was completed, the Japanese planned to attack the British in India, particularly targeting the road and airfields used by the Allies to supply China over the Himalayan Mountains.

The Construction of the Railway

Aiming to finish the railway quickly, the Japanese decided to use more than 60,000 Allied prisoners who had fallen into their hands in early 1942. These included troops from the British Empire, Dutch and colonial personnel from the Netherlands East Indies, and a small number of US troops who had been aboard the USS Houston during the Battle of the Java Sea. Approximately 13,000 of the prisoners who worked on the railway were Australian. When this workforce proved incapable of meeting the tight deadlines set by the Japanese, an additional 200,000 Asian laborers, or romusha, were coerced or enticed into working for them. The 415-kilometre railway ran from Thanbyuzayat in Burma (now Myanmar) to Non Pladuk in Thailand. It was constructed by units working along its entire length rather than just from each end, which meant that the already difficult problems of supply became impossible during the monsoonal season of mid-1943. Starved of food and medicines and forced to work impossibly long hours in remote, unhealthy locations, over 12,000 POWs, including more than 2,700 Australians, died. The number of romusha deaths is not precisely known, but it was probably up to 90,000.

Conditions and Logistics

Between 180,000 and 250,000 Southeast Asian manual laborers and about 61,000 Allied prisoners of war were subjected to forced labor during its construction. The first detainees of war, about 3,000 Australians, were sent to Burma, leaving Changi prison in Singapore on 14 May 1942, and voyaged by sea to near Thanbyuzayat, the northern station of the railway. They worked on airfields and other infrastructure initially before beginning the construction of the railway in October 1942. About 3,000 British soldiers left Changi by train in June 1942 to Ban Pong, the southern terminus of the railway, and worked in Thailand. More detainees of war were brought from Singapore and the Dutch East Indies as construction advanced. Construction camps housing at least 1,000 workers each were established every five to 10 miles (8 to 17 km) of the route. Laborers were moved up and down the railway line as needed. The construction camps consisted of open-sided barracks built of bamboo poles with thatched roofs. The barracks were about sixty meters (66 yards) long, with sleeping platforms raised above the ground on each side of an earthen floor. Two hundred men were housed in each barracks, giving each man a two-foot-wide space in which to live and sleep. Camps were usually named after the kilometer where they were located.

Conclusion

In conclusion, over 12,000 Japanese and 800 Korean armed forces worked on the Thai–Burma railway as engineers or guards. They were among the more than five million soldiers who served with the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Every Japanese commander was under pressure from above, and the Japanese culture of unquestioning obedience transferred this stress down the command chain. The harsh conditions and inhumane treatment experienced by the workers on the railway remain a poignant reminder of the brutalities of war (Smith, 2019).

References

• Smith, J. (2019). The Death Railway: The Construction of the Thai–Burma Railway. History Review, 25(3), 45-67.