The Death Railway or "The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Unless you are less than 30, you are likely to have seen the movie "The Bridge Over The River Kwai" starring Alee Guinness and William Holden and
based on the novel of the same tille by French writer Pierre Boulle. Then you must have known something about the notorious Railway of the Death, the tragedy of which is the main theme of the novel and movie.
But your memory of the story may have faded over the past two decades. If so, and for those who have
never heard of either the River Kwai or the Death Railway before, here is a brief history of the railway and the bridge.
The railway was built by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II when Siam, as Thailand was known at that time, and all the other countries in Southeast Asia were occupied by Japan. As the occupation army was encountering strong counter-attacks by Allied forces by sea and air, Japan had difficulty in supplying its troops in Burma up to the border of India.
The railway was built to be parallel with the River Kwai
In a desperate attempt to establish an overland supply line, urgent construction of a railway leading from Thailand to Burma was ordered. Work started simultaneously on 16 Sep. 1942 at both ends of the line -- Nong Praduk and Thanbyuzayat.
There were already in existence a railway connecting Bangkok and Nong Praduk (80 km. to the west of Bangkok) and another joining Thanbyuzayat to Moulmein and the rest of Burma.
In order to rush the work to an early completion, a total of 61,700 prisoners of war from Britain, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, and about 270,000 forced labourers, including Thais, Burmese, Malays, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesians and Indians, were sent to work on the project. Their working conditions were extremely harsh. They had to work with simple tools in rugged mountains and deep jungles full of dangerous insects and animals.
The weather was too damp and hot most of the time, especially for the Whites. In view of the urgency of the task, they were made to work more than 10 hours a day and 7 days a week but were give little to eat. And when there were epidemics such as cholera and malaria there was hardly enough medicine to go round. Consequently, only the strongest and luckiest survived the ordeal.
There is another cemetery at Ko Samrong where another 1,750 bodies were interred
After the railway was hurried to completion in 13 months' time, it was announced by the Japanese that a total of about 50,000 lives had been lost in the construction work, including 10,000 Japanese troops as well as 10,000 POWs and 30,000 labourers. But the number of POWs perished was later revised to be 12,399 by the Allied Powers and the actual death tool of
labourers was estimated to be as high as about 90,000. So, for some sections of the railway at least, it is no exaggeration to say that one life was sacrificed for every sleeper laid under the track. Hence the nickname Death Railway.
Now the so-called Death Railway is mainly a railway for tourists. It takes you to picturesque countryside to see vast expanses of green fields, a breath-taking viaduct winding along a precipice, long ranges of jungle-covered mountains and a waterfall which is quite a safe place for even children to play in because the water volume is small and the rocks are not slippery. You will see the war cemetery just behind the Kanchanaburi railway station, where 6,982 bodies of British, Dutch, Australian and New Zealand POWs were buried.
It is planted with planty of flowers and is kept tidy and clean. The inscriptions on the gravestones are simple but touching. There is another cemetery at Ko Samrong where another 1,750 bodies were interred. But it is a little out of the way and is not usually visited by ordinary tourists. The Japanese also built a small cemetery of their own near the provincial town.
Of course, you will also see the River Kwai Bridge and every section of the remaining Death Railway itself. They, together with the cemeieries, will remind you of the cruelty of war and the agonies suffered by thousands upon thousands of people. But since they have become part of history, you may just as well forget about them and enjoy the beautiful scenery presenting itself before your eyes.
The tourist train leaves the Bangkok railway station every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday at 6.35 a.m. The train arrives back in Bangkok at 7.35 p.m. For more imformation at State Railway of Thailand, Tel. 223-7010 or Tourisim Authority of Thailand
