 Text
on plaque
This section of the Burma-Thailand Railway was constructed between April
and September 1943.
Unlike the flatter section from Nong Pladuk to Nam Tok (to the south)
this high country rose steeply to become ravined dense jungle.
The Japanese controlled thousands of Prisoners of War (P.O.W) and Asian
labourers who toiled by day and night. They cut through rock and crossed
ravines with the most primitive of. hand tools to complete this 25
kilometre section which traversed the worst terrain of the line. They
forded raging rivers, negotiated dense jungle valleys and mountainous
gradients. The work force was decimated by harsh working conditions,
starvation, the monsoons and disease including cholera.
| |
TOTAL |
DEATHS |
| Asian Labourers |
2000,000 +/- |
80,000+/- |
| British P.O.W. |
30,000 |
6,540 |
| Dutch P.O.W. |
18,000 |
2,830 |
| Australian P.O.W. |
13,000 |
2,710 |
| American P.O.W. |
700+/- |
356 (Buried in U.S.A) |
| Japanese and Korean |
15,000 |
1,000 |
Construction time for the railway was 17 month. Period of effective use
was 21 months ending in June 1945. The railway line was dismantled by
the British after the war as it was unsafe. It was later relaid along
the section from The Bridge on the River Kwai to Nam Tok, a distance of
130kms. It is along this section that todays tourists can relive the
feelings of the war.
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