We’ve visited three WWII museums in the past 24 hours. Kind of a lot considering Kanchanaburi is a relatively small place. Not so many considering that tens of thousands of people died under the Japanese Imperial Army here between 1942 and 1945. Kanchanaburi is famous for the being the site of the bridge made famous in the movie “Bridge over the River Kwai.” More important than the bridge, Kanchanaburi was the headquarters and an important stop along the Thailand-Burma railway, today known as the Death Railway. Burma was the only theater that the Allies lost during the war (the others being the Pacific, Western Front, Eastern Front, and North Africa) and consequently its rarely taught in schools. Therefore, I’ll provide some historical background as always Although Americans are familiar with Pearl Harbor, it was just a small part of a much larger Japanese surprise offensive. On that same day, the Japanese attacked and overran British, French, and Australian colonial forces across Asia and the Pacific, from Hong Kong all the way down to Singapore. With East Asia under their control for ten years already, they took the whole of South East Asia within two months. By February, Japan had consolidated power from Indonesia to Burma. In those days, Burma was part of the British India, so Japan began moving troops to the Burmese front in order to launch a fresh offensive against the British into India, and also to cut the supply chain of Allied war materials to resistance forces throughout China (which went via Burma as the Himalayas were too big a transportation barrier). Also, the Japanese began shipping raw materials from Burma to industrial centers for processing. So Japan was shipping troops to Burma and raw materials on the way back.

Despite having conquered all of SEA, Japan’s ships were extremely vulnerable as they passed through the Malacca Straits. It is the only place for ships to pass from the Andaman Sea to the Gulf of Thailand and even today oil tankers are frequently attacked by pirates here. Anyways, American subs were sinking Japanese ships at an alarming rate in the Straits. So Japan planned to build a railway from Burma to Thailand, a railway that could deploy troops to the front and materials all the way to Bangkok. The British had once considered such a project, but abandoned it for being unfeasible. With its recent victories, Japan now had tens of thousands of Allied POWs and hundreds of thousands of Thais, Malays, and Tamils at its disposal. In 1942, Japan began shipping prisoners to camps throughout Burma and Thailand. In all, 61,000 Allied troops worked on the railway. An estimated 200,000 Asians were also conscripted to work. The museums we visited dealt with the hells that the POWs had to live through. The Japanese were slave drivers in their rush to complete the railway. I obviously cannot communicate in one post all the information that the museum conveyed, but it was horrific. Many of the photos we saw showed the POWs as little more than skeletons, their bodies wasted away from malaria, cholera, dysentery, and simple malnutrition. Latrines overflowed, barracks were incomplete, medical care was absent, and the little food was rotten and maggot-filled. The stories of sadistic Japanese guards beating prisoners, using various torture methods, and murdering men for the slightest offenses are saddening. Of the over 60,000 POWs that worked on the railroad, over 15,000 died, mostly British, Dutch, and Australians (only 131 Americans died). Records of Asian workers’ deaths were not kept, but it is estimated to be around 100,000 (although I never really trust estimates that happen to be convenient big round numbers). The museums all had war relics from both sides, stories from both sides, and gifts from each side. Back to the bridge, the famous “Bridge over the River Kwai” was just one of 8 steel bridges along the rail line. The Allies bombed it, using a new technology called Azon, which were the first radio-controlled bombs. Not so well known is the fact that when the Japanese saw the bombers coming, they ordered all the nearby POWs onto the bridge in hopes that a bombing would be averted. Dozens of men died when the bomb hit and locals said the river turned red with blood.

the bridge today

We visited the bridge which is a tourist attraction now, although two trains a day still cross it (Thailand repaired the bridge following the war). Its such a peaceful place now. We also visited an Allied POW cemetery honoring and holding the bodies of thousands who perished building the railway. In the past month or so, we’ve seen the atrocities of three wars and its all very sobering. Learning about the US’ Secret War in Lao, seeing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and now remembering the inhumanity of World War II. Although depressing, I am thankful to be learning about all these things. These events need to be learned and remembered. Perhaps I cannot prevent them when they occur in the future, but I feel that they provide me more and more insight into mankind.