bridge of the River Kwai...

Of all the remnants of war history in Thailand today, those in Kanchanaburi – less than a three-hour drive west of Bangkok – are probably the most well-known, significant and poignant. Subsequent to their invasion, with unfettered access to and the use of Siam’s infrastructure, Japan sought to create a transport route through Siam into Burma, which it also occupied between 1942 and 1944, in order to reduce its reliance on sea transport and facilitate onward moves into India. This took the form of the now infamous Death Railway, constructed by the Japanese using the forced labour of hundreds of thousands of civilians from southeast Asia and prisoners of war from the Allies’ forces. These soldiers – relocated from camps in Singapore and elsewhere – were principally from the UK and its colony in India, the Netherlands and its Dutch East Indies colony (today Indonesia), Australia, and the United States The Death Railway earned its name from the sheer number of lives lost during its construction, including that of railway bridge number 277 in June 1943, allowing the track to cross what is today known as the Khwae Noi River, and which has become recognised worldwide as the Bridge on the River Kwai. Estimates vary but, of more than 60,000 prisoners of war enslaved on the Death Railway, almost 13,000 are believed to have died, in addition to as many as 90,000 southeast Asian civilian forced labourers. Even those who overcame the odds had to endure abysmal living and working conditions, including a humid, monsoon-plagued climate ripe for spreading diseases, food shortages, an absence of medical care, and the mammoth task of construction on unforgiveable terrain and with primitive equipment. That’s not to mention the incredible violence and torture inflicted by the Japanese and Korean soldiers supervising the construction.