Death Railway

The Death Railway (known also as Burma Railway or Thai-Burma Railway) was a railway built from Thailand to Burma (now Myanmar) by the Japanese during World War II to complete the route from Bangkok to Rangoon and support the Japanese occupation of Burma. It was so called because of the human cost of its construction. About 100,000 conscripted Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) died on the project made up of 6,318 British, 2,815 Australians, 2,490 Dutch and the remainder from the USA or unknown (Wigmore, p588).

References

• The Japanese Thrust - Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Lionel Wigmore, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1957.