Reisverslag Burma - Siam: 1942 - '45

Brief history of the Birma railroad, built 1942-43 by POW
(prisoners of war) forced by the Japanese in WW2 :
The 406 km long Birma (’Burma’ in Dutch) railroad runs from the
base camp at Thanbyuzayat (’many eggs’) in Birma, south of Moulmein,
to the SE for 109 km to the Birma/Siam border, and along
the river Kwai in Siam (Thailand) 297 km to Ban Pong , 60 km
west of Bangkok. It was in fact already planned by the British before
WW2. From the two end points five teams (branches) worked
towards the middle at Konu ’camp 108-km’ south of the base camp,
reached on 17 Oct.’43. The Thai-Birma border was at camp 112:
Payathonzu (’3 pagodas’), the ’Three Pagoda Pass’.
The well known bridge over the river Kwai Y ai is 4 km
north of Kanchanaburi, Siam. It was not made of bamboo, as in
the 1957 movie ”Bridge on the River Kwai”, but a steel structure
brought from Java by the Japanese army, and assembled by POW.
Two Birma teams started with 11.500 POW, of whom 5800
Dutch (incl. author JCB), and in Siam 42.000 POW in three teams
(branches), with 12.000 Dutch. The railway was constructed with
a minimum of machines and a maximum of cheap human labor,
under inhuman conditions forced by the Japanese: 53.500 Allied
POW and some 200.000 native forced labor workers finished the
full distance in 16 months. About 96.000 (incl. 19.000 POW) did
not survive this murderous regime in the jungle: 4 of every 10 men.
References - inluding foto’s and drawings :
1. http://www.niod.nl - Ned. Inst. Oorlogsdocumentatie
2. http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/nl/achtergronden/verreoosten/
bgasia/birmaspoorlijn010815.html
3. http://angelstation.com/swillner/index.htm : Links (English)
4. http://home.t-online.de/home/Gueinzius/E/Thaiburma.htm
5. http://home.t-online.de/home/Gueinzius/E/Pakan-Baru.htm
6. http://www.rnw.nl/special/en/html/030813pakan.html
7. http://www.ean.co.uk/Bygones/History/Article/WW2/
Painting the Horror/html/body dutch paintings.htm
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