Siam Death Railway
Siam Death Railway: (1942-1943) The Thailand - Burma Railway, is commonly known as the Siam Death Railway. This is a 415 km (258 miles) railway line built during World War II (September 16, 1942 - October 17, 1943). The project was undertaken by the Japanese with the aim of connecting Thailand and Burma. Approximately 180,000 to 250,000 Asian labourers and more than 60,000 prisoners of war were forcibly involved in the construction of the railway line. About 90,000 Asian labourers and more than 12,000 prisoners of war have died as a result of harsh working conditions, inadequate food supply, disease, wildlife attacks and the harsh punishment meted out by the Japanese. The Japanese government called this line the Tai - Men Rensetsu Tetsudō (Thailand-Burma Link Railway). The Thailand section of the railway continues to operate. Three trains run daily on this railway from Bangkok to Nam Tok. The bridge built during that time continues to operate too. The Burmese section of the railway which goes from the Thai border to Moulmein in Burma was abandoned many years ago.
History
The construction of a railway line between Burma and Thailand was surveyed by the British government in 1885. The project was deemed to be extremely difficult as the 282-metre-high Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Myanmar border and the Kwai River in western Thailand came on its way and thus the project was halted.
At the beginning of World War II, Thailand declared itself a neutral country. On December 8, 1941, Japan invaded Thailand. In 1942, the Japanese troops entered Burma via Thailand and occupied the British-occupied Burma. The Japanese had to come through the Straits of Malacca and the Andaman Sea to maintain their army forces. Also, the chances of an attack by submarines were high. A railway line from Bangkok to Rangoon was set up to avoid the perilous 3200 km sea voyage around the Malay Peninsula. This railway line is referred to by three names. They are The Burma Railway, The Death Railway, and The Burma-Siam Railway.
The railway line was planned to run from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma. 111 km of railway line was laid in Burma and 304 km in Thailand. Prisoners of war from Singapore Changi Prison and other prison camps in Southeast Asia were taken north in 1942. They arrived in Non Pladuk on June 23, 1942 and built a camp for transit. Construction of the railway began on September 16, 1942, after the initial infrastructural work.
A construction team from Burma and another team from Thailand were constantly involved in the work. The logistics for the railway were imported from Malaya and Indonesia. The existing railway lines in Malacca, Singapore, Gotabhaya and Kola Lipis were renamed and used for the Siam-Burma route. The Japanese government planned to complete the project in December 1943. But the project was completed on October 17, 1943, ahead of the timeline.
The labourers from Thailand section and labourers from Burmese section, who were working on the railway line, met at Konkoita, a place which is 18kms from the Three Pagodas Pass. At present, this place is known as Kaeng Khoi Tha (Sangkhla Buri District, Kanchanaburi Province). There, the Japanese held a large prisoner of war camp during the war. Holiday was declared on October 25, 1943 to mark the completion of the railway line.
Commenting on the Siam Death Railway, American engineer Bashar Altabba said: "In history, engineers have done bigger, longer, and even harder engineering tasks in one go. But the Siam railway surpasses them because of its overall integration of different elements. These include the total length in miles, the number of bridges (six hundred bridges in total, including eight major bridges), the number of labourers involved (approximately two and a half million), the shortest time it took to complete the building, and the worst working environment. They had very little transportation facilities. No medical facility. Not only construction materials but even food was in short supply. Other than basic tools like hammers and spades there were no other tools to work with. They worked under the worst climatic conditions of the forest which was hot and humid. All these together make this railway work an extraordinary achievement.”
Post World War II
After the British captured Burma and Thailand on January 16, 1946, the British Army ordered the removal of a four kilometre railway line from Ni Thea to Sonkrai in Thailand using Japanese prisoners of war. Train links between Thailand and Burma were also cut off. This was done to protect Singapore from invasions. Thereafter the Burmese section of the railway was gradually cut short of operations and rendered unusable.
In October 1946, the Thai section of the railway was sold to the Thai government for 1,250,000 pounds. The amount was given as relief to the countries from which Japan took goods to build the railway. Following the death of the Minister of Transport of Thailand in a rail accident due to the collapse of a bridge near Konkoita on February 1, 1947, it was decided that it would be enough to operate the railway line till Nam Tok.
On June 24, 1949, the Thai Railway Department began repairing and restoring this railway line, which was completed on April 1, 1952. Even though the plan to restore and operate the Burmese section of the railway has been put forward several times, it has not been implemented. Burma region is mountainous. Since many new bridges and railway tunnels may be required, the plan was postponed. After the fall of Japan, efforts were made to repatriate prisoners and Asian labourers.
Labourers
Japanese Army
The Siam Death Railway was overseen by 12,000 Japanese soldiers. They include 800 Korean soldiers. They worked as railway engineers, supervisors and guards. Although the Japanese soldiers did not have a heavy workload, up to 1000 people died during the railway construction. Japanese soldiers were not only violent but also physically tortured the prisoners of war and other labourers. Labourers were continuously severely punished and humiliated.
Southeast Asian Labourers
The number of Southeast Asian labourers employed for this work was nearly 1,80,000. They were called rōmusha. Javanese, Malayan Tamils, Burmese, Chinese, Thais and other Southeast Asians were forced into labour by the Japanese army. Many died during its construction. Initially Burmese and Thais were employed in their respective countries, but the Thai workers escaped. The number of Burmese was not enough. The Burmese welcomed the Japanese invasion and also assisted Japan in the recruitment of labour.
The Japanese government who showed swiftness to build the railway bridge, advertised in the early 1943’s promising good wages and accommodation facilities to the labourers. When the people did not believe this, they were forcefully taken by the Japanese government to build the bridge. As stated by Neil MacPherson in his book Death Railway Movements, approximately 90,000 Burmese and 75,000 Malaysian Tamils were involved. According to several other documents, more than 100,000 Malay Tamils were brought under this project and more than 60,000 are said to have died.
British doctor and prisoner of war Robert Hardy wrote, “The situation in the riverside camps is dire. They were made to stay away from the Japanese and British camps. No toilets. British prisoners of war in the Kinsai-Yoke area had to bury an average of twenty coolies every day. They were all brought in with false promises from Malaya. They were told ‘simple work, good pay, good housing’. Many had even brought their wives and children. On arrival they were confined in small tomb-like quarters. They were beaten and kicked by Korean and Japanese soldiers. They were unable to buy extra food, they did not even know what was going on, they lived there sick and scared. Yet they treated the sick British prisoners of war with conscience.”
Prisoners of war
The first prisoners of war to go to Burma were 3,000 Australians who worked at the airport and in the interior before railway construction began. They were made to stay in the Changi camp. From there they were taken by train and boat to the Swarnapuri camp in Thailand and from there to various camps in Burma.
Subsequently, prisoners of war were brought in from Singapore and East Indies and established camps for a minimum of 1000 labourers at every 8-17 km of the route. The camps were built of thatched roofs and bamboo poles with the sides open. These camps were 50 metres in length. Platforms were raised from the ground on each side of a dirt floor. Each labourer was given a two-foot-wide space to sleep.
Even after the completion of the railway work, the prisoners of war were made to stay in the railway camps for another two years. A few of them were sent to Japan as manual labourers. Asian prisoners of war and Asian labourers were sent to the Kra Isthmus Railway project from Chumphon to Kra Buri in Indonesia, and to the Palembang Railway project from Pekanbaru to Muaro in Sumatra, Indonesia. Ten thousand prisoners of war were sent on ships to Japan. Many of them died due to bombing and disease.
After 1943, the situation of prisoners of war improved as the Allies began to raise their hands in World War II. After the bridge construction work, the remaining prisoners of war were sent to medical and rehabilitation centres. In the rehabilitation centres they built sheds of bamboo and palm fronds and performed music and drama to regain their motivation. Many people have recorded those days.
Brutality
Malaysian plantation workers, Indonesian workers were unaccustomed to the harsh conditions of the Burmese jungles. Malnutrition, physical abuse, malaria, cholera, dysentery and tropical ulcers were cited as common causes of death among construction workers. They were overburdened with work, but with very little food. They were kept in very poor condition.
The death toll in the construction of the Siam-Burma railway line varies from side to side. Of these, the Australian government’s statistics are most frequently cited by researchers. Accordingly, It is estimated that about 90,000 Asian workers and 16,000 prisoners of war died out of the 330,000 who worked on the construction. However, all parties agree that the death toll of Southeast Asian labourers was higher than that of military personnel. According to David Boggett, the death rate of Asian labourers was about half of the overall death rate. McPherson notes that the highest number of deaths were among Malayan Tamils and Javanese workers.
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