How many Australian POWs died building the Burma Railway?

Legacy. The railway was completed in October 1943. The Japanese were able to use it to supply their troops in Burma despite the repeated destruction of bridges by Allied bombing. More than 90,000 Asian civilians died on the railway, as well as 16,000 POWs, of whom about 2800 were Australian.

How accurate is the film Bridge on the River Kwai?

Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, the plot and characters of Boulle’s novel and the screenplay are almost entirely fictional.

Where did Australian prisoners of war work in Burma?

Allied prisoners of war engaged in bridge building at Tamarkan. A trestle bridge on the Burma–Thailand Railway built by Allied prisoners of war and conscripted Asian labourers, near Hintok, in Thailand. A photo taken in secret of three men selected by the Japanese as fit to work at Shimo Songkurai camp on the Burma–Thailand Railway in 1943.

Are there any true stories about the Thai Burma Railway?

Nearly all our Australian POW Books are true stories many written by the Australian POW who worked on the Thai Burma Railway during WW2. There are 101 products. 4000 Bowls Of Rice:… Prisoners of War: From… The Burma Thailand… POW Thai Burma Death… Death Railway POW camps locations Thai Burma Railway Map.

Who was sentenced to death for the Burma Railway?

Hiroshi Abe, a first lieutenant who supervised construction of the railway at Sonkrai where 1,400 British prisoners out of 1,600 died of cholera and other diseases in three months, was sentenced to death, later commuted to 15 years in prison, as a B/C class war criminal.

Where did the Australian prisoners of war die?

After the completion of the railway, men continued to die at a base camp at Kan Buri in southern Thailand and they died after returning to Changi. When they returned to Australia, the POWs from the railway were asked to submit any diaries to Captain Thomas W. Mitchell, a scholar, who had served as an intelligence officer of 8th Division HQ AIF.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7caOPnY6Ngo