Vietnam by Tiger Cam: The Bridge on the River Kwai

Map from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:W.wolny

In the course of planning our trip to Thailand, I came across a reference to the Bridge on the River Kwai. I have always been a huge fan of the movie, a 1957 British-American World War II film directed by David Lean and starring Alec Guinness and William Holden, which achieved near-universal critical acclaim, winning seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture). The movie depicts, mostly fictionally, the construction of a bridge over the 'River Kwai', part of the Death Railway. Since the bridge is located in the Thai town of Kanchanaburi, about an hour and a half drive northwest of Bangkok, we planned a day trip to see it.

In 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma from Thailand and seized the colony from British control. A railway route between Thailand and Burma had been surveyed by the British government of Burma at the beginning of the 20th century, but the proposed course of the line – through hilly jungle terrain divided by many rivers – was considered too difficult to complete.

But the Japanese army needed a route to support improved communications, and provide supplies and troops for the war effort in Burma – a route less vulnerable to allied attack. As a result, the infamous Death Railway, also known as the Burma-Siam Railway, a Japanese project, was begun in June 1942 and built by Commonwealth, American and Dutch prisoners of war, as well as involuntary Asian labour. Two labour forces, one based in Thailand and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre.

The River Kwai and a glimpse of the terrain through which the Death Railway was built.

POW's had to cut through rock using primitive tools. The above cut is several kilometres west of the Bridge.

Along the Death Railway, west of Kanchanaburi; similar

to but much smaller than the Hellfire pass.

Several sections of the railway had to be cut through rock. The most famous was the Hellfire Pass, so called because the sight of emaciated prisoners labouring at night by the light of torches was said to resemble a scene from Hell. This pass was the largest rock cutting on the railway line. It was located in a remote area and prisoners lacked proper construction tools. It took 6 weeks to build the pass. During that time 69 men were beaten to death by Japanese guards and many more died from cholera, dysentery, starvation and exhaustion.

About 180,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. The prisoners lived in squalor with barely a subsistence diet. The men worked from early morning until well after dark and often had to trudge many kilometres from place to place. During its construction, approximately 13,000 POW’s died and were buried along the railway.

Entrance to the cemetery.

The dead POW’s included:

6,318 British soldiers,

2,815 Australians,

2,490 Dutch,

about 356 Americans

and a smaller number of Canadians and New Zealanders.

An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Asian labourers also died during construction, mainly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Thailand and Burma.

The cemetery was meticulously maintained - a beautiful tribute to those

that lost their lives.

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery contains the graves of 6,982 personnel:
3,585 members of British units;
1,896 Dutch;
1,362 Australians;
12 members of the Indian Army
two New Zealanders, and one Canadian

There are no Americans: in accordance with the traditions of the US military, the remains of its personnel were repatriated to the United States: 902 died while working on the railway.

After the war the railway was in very poor condition. Over the years repairs were made and the portion in use today measures about 130 km.

Hollywood made the Bridge on the River Kwai famous. Thousands of tourists thronged to the site, but there was a slight problem. The bridge was built over a stretch of river that was then known as the Mae Khlung. The author of the original book, Pierre Boulle, had never been to the area. He knew that the Death Railway ran parallel to Thailand’s River Kwae for many miles, and he assumed that the railway crossed the Kwae just north of Kanchanaburi.

He was wrong, but the quick thinking Thai government, sensing the potential tourist revenues to be had, renamed the river. Since 1960 a portion of the Mae Khlung has been known as Kwae Yai.

The steel bridge was repaired after allied bombing and
is still in use today.

The steel bridge.

The demolition of the bridge as shown in the film is entirely fictional. Two bridges were, in fact, built: a temporary wooden bridge and a permanent steel/concrete bridge a few months later. Both bridges were used for two years, until they were destroyed by Allied bombing.

The War Museum from the River.

There are several Museums in Kanchanaburi that commemorate the war. We went to the Death Railway Museum. It provided an excellent and, at times, moving synopsis of the construction of the Death Railway. I thought this museum acurately described the deplorable conditions endured by the POW's and Asian labourers at the hands of their Japanese task masters.