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.
สมัครสมาชิก:
ส่งความคิดเห็น (Atom)
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น