Encounter the Burma-Thai railway history of World War Two (+ Pictorial)

One of World War Two’s most extraordinary and harrowing engineering achievements was the construction of the Burma-Thailand railway. (Burma is now called Myanmar.) With unbelievably primitive tools for such a project and total disregard for human life and suffering, the Japanese used prisoner labourers to build a railway 415 kilometres long through one of the world’s most rugged terrains in the short span of 12 months.   

Deaths from the project numbered around 15,000 British, Australian, American,  Dutch and New Zealand prisoners of war and an estimated 70,000-90,000 forced Asian civilian labourers. Over 2,500 Australians died during construction due also to starvation, lack of medicine, poor treatment, and diseases such as cholera and typhoid. During this tragedy, there were also heroic stories of endurance, survival and mateship on many fronts.  

Many remnants of the infamous Burma-Thai railway and bridges are found in the Thai province of Kanchanaburi, 140km NW of Bangkok. While one bridge is commonly known as ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’, from the famous movie of that name, three insightful museums reveal more of the tragic events of the Burmese-Thai railway. The JEATH War Museum, the Death Railway Museum and Research Centre and Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre and Memorial Walking Trail illustrate a full story from the beginning of World War Two through to, the attack on Pearl Harbour, the fall of Singapore and the Japanese occupation of many Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand.  

Edventure Travel can arrange visits to the museums and original sections of the railway line still in use in Thailand. A moving tour of Hellfire Pass, where the Australian soldiers had to dig through rock and where original train carriages rest in the jungle, further illustrates the events that unfolded. Soldiers’ items, digging tools, uniforms and improvised medical procedures are on display, along with photos depicting the harsh conditions endured. 

A trip to Kanchanaburi will interest students studying World War Two, anti-colonialism, global politics and intenational reconciliation. Kanchanaburi can also form a part of a more extensive tour of Thailand or a Singapore-Thailand combined trip that visits the Changi Museum from where many POWs went to work on the Burma-Thai railway.  

Below is our selection of photos taken at the three museums in Kanchanaburi.