To supply their forces in Burma, the Japanese depended upon the sea, bringing supplies and troops to Burma around the Malay peninsula and through the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea. The name used by the Japanese Government was TaiMen Rensetsu Tetsud (), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway. Glyn White (Includes: Force "L", 15 medical officers 100 other ranks; nominal roll of personnel Australian General Hospital selected for inclusion in Force "L"). In 1939 the age limits for enlistment in the AIF were 19 to 35 years of age (higher for officers and some NCOs). [21][22] The railway link between Thailand and Burma was to be separated again for protecting British interests in Singapore. [8th Division in Captivity - "H" Force (Thailand):] "H" Force in Thailand. Its dramatic scale and its towering walls, scarred with drill incisions made by hand, spoke particularly vividly to the hardships endured by POWs along the railway. About 13 000 of the prisoners who worked on the railway were Australian.
Stalag 17 (1953) After two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. 
Between 180,000 and 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians and over 60,000 Allied prisoners of war were subjected to forced labour during its construction. Some of their works were used as evidence in the trials of Japanese war criminals. $33.86. Lieutenant General Eiguma Ishida, overall commander of the Burma Railway, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. It was divided into two battalions, each 450-strong: O battalion (commanded by Major H. G. Grenier) and P battalion (commanded by Major F. A. Whatever tensions there may have been during captivity, the Dutch, British and Australians who died on the ThaiBurma railway were buried together after the war. "[46] The living and working conditions on the Burma Railway were often described as "horrific", with maltreatment, sickness, and starvation. Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, RG 331. Life in the POW camps was recorded at great risk by artists such as Jack Bridger Chalker, Philip Meninsky, John Mennie, Ashley George Old, and Ronald Searle. Detailed daily record as a POW on the Burma end of the Burma Thai Railway. Initially, 1,000 prisoners worked on the bridge and were commanded by Colonel Philip Toosey. Some were returned to Singapore for shipping; others stayed at Saigon until the end of the war. We'd like to use additional cookies to remember your settings and understand how you use our services. [28] One museum is in Myanmar side Thanbyuzayat,[95] and two other museums are in Kanchanaburi: the ThailandBurma Railway Centre,[96] opened in January 2003,[97] and the JEATH War Museum. Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop. [54][55], After the completion of the railroad, over 10,000 POWs were then transported to Japan. Report on Base Hospital Kanchanburi by Lt Col J.W. ", "Burma-Siam Railway - Australia receives no payment", "Grote schade aan materiaal der N.I. The authors stated that the reports were neither complaints nor protests, but merely statements of fact. The 12th of September by R.L. On 26 October 1942, British prisoners of war arrived at Tamarkan to construct the bridge. Imprest Burmese and Courtesy of Australian War Memorial. WebFind many great new & used options and get the best deals for Building the Death Railway: The Ordeal of American Pows in Burma, 1942-19 - GOOD at the best online prices at eBay! Please note, BT 373/3717-8 and BT 373/3722 are available on Findmypast(). $33.86. Since the upper part of the Khwae valley is now flooded by the Vajiralongkorn Dam,[19] and the surrounding terrain is mountainous, it would take extensive tunnelling to reconnect Thailand with Burma by rail. Web61,000 Prisoners of War were forced to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway in the most atrocious conditions. Prisoner Under The Rising Sun by Harold Bill Evans. We pay our respects to elders past and present. The reports may provide details of escape attempts and organisation. Free shipping for many products! 1. Between them they providedetails of approximately 169,000 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war of all ranks and provide details which may prove vital in your search, as well as being of interest for their own sake: Once you are confident that an individual was held as a prisoner of war, the next step is to search within the record series detailed below. Some of these records are available to view and download online but many are not and you may therefore need to visit us in Kew to see documents. It was drawn principally from the 22nd Australian Brigade (Varley was promoted to Brigadier by Gordon Bennett in February 1942 and given command of this brigade), the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion (under Major C. E. Green), and 2/30th Battalion (under Lieutenant Colonel G. E. Ramsay), with a medical group drawn mostly from the 2/4th Casualty Clearing Station (under Lieutenant Colonel T. Hamilton). Records of Naval Operating Forces, RG 313. Searchable by name and service number, various items. Deel 8 De tragedie van de Birma-Siam Spoorweg", "The Railway Man: Australian keeps legacy of Thailand's 'Death Railway' alive helping relatives of POWs gain closure", Captive Audiences/Captive Performers: Music and Theatre as Strategies for Survival on the Thailand-Burma Railway 19421945, Works of Ashley George Old held by the State Library of Victoria. Singapore, Changi and Burma Thailand Railway by Katherine Bell. It also describes the living and working conditions experienced by the POWs, together with the culture of the Thai towns and countryside that became many POWs' homes after leaving Singapore with the working parties sent to the railway. RAF personnel Since the Netherlands East Indies had been under Dutch control for centuries, the Dutch POWs included not only Europeans but Eurasians, who had acquired full civil rights, and indigenous soldiers, including Sundanese, Javanese, Menadonese, Ambonese and Timorese. Browse the indexes in WO 347/60-200 and choose the relevant surname range. kevin will islip, tri delta initiation ritual, job that grants power but little prestige, empresas que pagam dividendos mensais eua, is bray wyatt coming back to wwe 2022, More than 22 000 Australians were taken prisoner in the Asia-Pacific region in the early months of 1942. Communities, like individuals, remember some stories of the past while forgetting others. Some have even brought wives and children. This included personnel from USS Houston and the 131st Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard. Second World War - PoWs held in the Far East, selected prisoners of war records 1715-1945, British Army Prisoners of War, 1939-1945 database, Correspondence of the Foreign Office, 1920-1951, Prisoners of war, British Army, 1939-1945, Prisoners of war, naval and air forces of Great Britain and the Empire, 1939-1945, Prisoners of war, armies and other land forces of the British Empire, 1939-1945, index cards for British prisoners of war who were captured by the Japanese, National Archives and Records Administration, Friends of The National The second largest group of prisoners more than 2700 were captured on Java. The POW experience is also remembered for service of the medical personnel who, with little equipment or medicines, cared for desperately ill men in primitive hospitals. The reports cover prisoners held in Europe (and North Africa). K and L medical forces left Changi in June and August 1943 for Thailand. WebIn 1944, a compilation of medical reports from the main prisoner of war work camps along the infamous Thailand-Burma railway was submitted to General Arimura Tsunemichi, commander of the Japanese Prisoner of War Administration. Fifty-nine were women from the Australian Army Nursing Service. Search in series WO 309 and WO 311 using keywords in relation to the crimes themselves to find case files of the War Crimes Group (NW Europe), which investigated war crimes, including many against allied Prisoners of War For further information, consult our research guide, War Crimes 1939-1945. The estimated number of civilian labourers and POWs who died during construction varies considerably, but the Australian Government figures suggest that of the 330,000 people who worked on the line (including 250,000 Asian labourers and 61,000 Allied POWs) about 90,000 of the labourers and about 16,000 Allied prisoners died.[30]. The search for records held at Kew can, however, begin online, by searching for document references in our online catalogue. Nearly 15 000 were captured on Singapore in February 1942 and over a thousand on each of Ambon, Dutch Timor, and New Britain. The cutting soon became a site of memory for many Australians, particularly on Anzac Day. Sixty-nine men were beaten to death by Japanese guards in the twelve weeks it took to build the cutting, and many more died from cholera, dysentery, starvation, and exhaustion. Search and downloadselected prisoners of war records 1715-1945 on Findmypast (). [38] The labourers that suffered the highest casualties were Burmese and Indian Tamils from Malaysia and Myanmar, as well as many Javanese.[30]. Finally, on 1 July 1958, the rail line was completed to Nam Tok (Thai , 'waterfall', referring to the nearby Sai Yok Noi Waterfall) The portion in use today is some 130km (81mi) long. [17] A holiday was declared for 25 October which was chosen as the ceremonial opening of the line. The enormity of the Thai-Burma railway project made it necessary for the Imperial army to forcibly conscript a huge workforce for the construction, consisting of some 62,000 prisoners of war (POWs) and more than 200,000 Asian civilians from Thailand, Burma, Malaya, French Indochina, and the Indonesian archipelago. Some 1,438 men of F Force did not return. Search for thenames of some 13,500 allied prisoners of war and civilian internees held in Singapore camps (WO 367) on Findmypast (). [90], Three cemeteries maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) contain the vast majority of Allied military personnel who died on the Burma Railway.[90]. The railway was completed on 16 October 1943 . [63] The most important trial was against the general staff. These coolies have been brought from Malaya under false pretenses 'easy work, good pay, good houses!' By far the majority of British POWs nearly 29 000 of them were sent to Thailand. WebDuring its construction more than 16 ,000 prisoners of war died - mainly of sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion - and were buried along the railway. Woods). This owes something to the fact that in F Force, where British and Australian numbers were roughly equal, some 2036 British died compared to 1060 Australians in the period up to May 1944. These have now disappeared into the exquisitely beautiful landscape but this website reclaims them as witnesses to the POW story. Williams Force was based at Tanyin and Black Force at Beke Taung camp at Kilo 40. ISBN: 9781877009457. Flanagan's 2013 book The Narrow Road to the Deep North centres on a group of Australian POWs and their experiences building the railway as slave labour, and was awarded the 2014 Man Booker Prize. The POW Artists of the Burma Railway Searle wasn't the only prisoner recording his experience of the war. Your generous donation will be used to ensure the memory of our Defence Forces and what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for our freedom remains today and into the future. [8th Division in Captivity - Other Thailand Forces:] Medical report of 800 Prisoners of War, March from Nakom Naiyoke to Pitsanloke, May 1945. Community engagement team An estimated 80,000 to Little detailed research has been done on the background of Australian POWs and how this affected their chances of survival. Many Australians have performed that role for prisoners of the Japanese. The larger number of British deaths overall reflects the fact that there were simply more British working on the railway than Australians or Dutch POWs. Once you have ordered the document identify the relevant index card and make a note of the two part reference given for example 1/13. Estimates vary but the number who worked on the Also sketches by POWs. It was built from 1940 to 1943 by civilian laborers impressed or recruited by the Japanese and prisoners of war taken by the Japanese, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. Major Sotomatsu Chida was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The construction When this workforce proved incapable of meeting the tight deadlines the Japanese had set for completing the railway, a further 200 000 Asian labourers or rmusha (the precise number is not known) were enticed or coerced into working for the Japanese. Prisoners in Changi were divided into forces to work on the railway in either Burma or Thailand. My father John Leslie Graham was a prisoner of the Japanese from February 1942 until August 1945. Robertson, left Java on board the Moji Maru ; they joined up with A Force on 17 January 1943. burma railway prisoners of war list.
Cruelty could take different forms, from extreme violence and torture to minor acts of physical punishment, humiliation, and neglect. The railway was completed on 16 October 1943. The Burma Railway, also called the Death Railway, was built between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Burma, put together with a ready supply of labour in the form of Prisoners-of-War (PoW). WebAmong the 32,500 soldiers taken prisoner, mostly Dutch, British, and Australian, were 534 members of the U.S. battalion, 21 men of the original 558 having been transferred and [33] Other documents suggest that more than 100,000 Malayan Tamils were brought into the project and around 60,000 perished.[35][36]. What types of records does The National Archives hold? Creator Venables, Max, 1922-2009 Title Diary kept in Changi prison camp Date 1942-1945 Description.
The advice here refers primarily to military personnel, but does also include some information on records of civilian PoWs. Major B. H. Anderson commanded K Force, including 5 medical officers and 50 other ranks. Consultthe escape and evasion reports in WO 208, which give individual accounts of escape attempts or capture or awards for those who assisted escape attempts. Elsewhere in the Pacific some 10 000 British, Canadian and Indian troops were captured when Hong Kong fell in December 1941 and further 5000 in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) in early 1942. Most of the railway was dismantled shortly after the war. Liberated prisoners distributing rice rations to campmates. Probably their motives were mixed: a desire for adventure, a sense of duty, nationalism and a conviction that they were part of a proud Australian military tradition dating from Gallipoli. Medical Report by Maj A.A. Over 22 000 Australians were captured by the Japanese when they conquered South East Asia in early 1942. Naval personnel It is a good idea to check both sources.
R.M. Many reports include appendices which can provide further information relating to: Browse and download selected lists of British and Commonwealth prisoners of war in WO 392/1-26 for alphabetical lists of prisoners of war from all branches of HM Forces held in Germany or German-occupied territory, Italy and Japan or Japanese-occupied territory. Read our guide on RFC, RAF and RNAS personnel for other records on RAF prisoners of war. Thus, ferries were needed as an alternative connecting system. [78][79], In 1946,[89] the remains of most of the war dead were moved from former POW camps, burial grounds and lone graves along the rail line to official war cemeteries. Its route was through Three Pagodas Pass on the border of Thailand and Burma. "[38], The first prisoners of war, 3,000 Australians, to go to Burma left Changi Prison in Singapore on 14 May 1942 and journeyed by sea to near Thanbyuzayat ( in the Burmese language; in English 'Tin Shelter'), the northern terminus of the railway. In January 1945 around 10 000 prisoners were crammed into the cells, corridors and common areas of the gaol or huts erected in the prison grounds. Public entrance via Fairbairn Avenue, Campbell ACT 2612, Book your ticket to visit: awm.gov.au/visit, Copyright Privacy Policy. Over the years this story of atrocity and suffering has become an affirmation of Australian courage and resilience. WebHighlights. In the decades after World War II ex-prisoners published their memoirs and eye-witness accounts. In the 1980s Australian ex-POWs returned to Thailand and reclaimed Hellfire Pass from the jungle which had swallowed it when the Burma-Thailand railway was demolished after World War II. The [Burma-Thailand] railway was the common and dominant experience of Australian POWs [it] distorted or ended the lives of over half of the Australian prisoners of the Japanese , [Hank Nelson, 'Measuring the railway' in Gavan McCormack and Hank Nelson (eds), The BurmaThailand Railway, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1993, 17, 19.]. When that failed to attract sufficient workers, they resorted to more coercive methods, rounding up workers and impressing them, especially in Malaya. 
Web"Dusty" Miller was a British P.O.W. On 17 October 1943, construction gangs originating in Burma working south met up with construction gangs originating in Thailand working north. In October 1942 survivors from the HMAS Perth were shipped to Singapore, and then to Burma. Varley (Brigadier, MC, 22nd Aust Inf Bde and POW, Burma d: 1944). The largest of these is at Hellfire Pass (north of the current terminus at Nam Tok), a cutting where the greatest number of people died.
Votes: 2,764. Dunlop Force was the first group of Australians to reach the southern end of the railway. [56] Those left to maintain the line still suffered from appalling living conditions as well as increasing Allied air raids. WebThe notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved He served 11 years. In preparation for the daily Last Post Ceremony. [42][43] Workers were moved up and down the railway line as needed. All rights reserved, Prisoners of the Japanese, Burma-Thailand Railway, Australian prisoners of war: Second World War. Navy and the auxiliary forces of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army. In 1944, the course of war began to change drastically, and it became clearer that Germany was losing the war. The Another group, numbering 190 US personnel, to whom Lieutenant Henri Hekking, a Dutch medical officer with experience in the tropics was assigned, suffered only nine deaths. The Australian War Memorial is open for visitors as we work to expand our galleries. "Dusty" Experience as a POW in Burma and Thailand, general report on medical aspects of POW's treatment by Japanese, 1944. Under Australian legislation prior to 1943 conscripts could be used only for the defence of Australian territories. At the other point, in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, lies the remains of 4, 946 men. v3.0, except where otherwise stated, British and Commonwealth prisoners of the Second World War and the Korean War. [74] Repairs were carried out by forced labour of POWs shortly after and by April the wooden railroad trestle bridge was back in operation.
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