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" Death Railway "
Kanchanaburi It was constructed in 1942, when the Japanese army
decided to build a 415 km (260 mile) long railway line linking
Burma and Thailand, thereby guaranteeing an unbroken link between
the Japanese base in Singapore and the Indian front. Several
hundreds of thousands of coolies from the region and some 60,000
allied prisoners of war were forced to work under inhuman condition
in order to complete the Kanchanaburi section through mountainous
jungle territory, including the construction of the bridge over
the River Kwai. No fewer than 90,000 coolies and 16,000 prisoners
of war died during construction, thus giving rise to the tragic
name of "Death Railway" When in October 1943 the first
trains rattled over the bridge, the Japanese had already virtually
lost the war in Southeast Asia. In 1944, the bridge was bombed.
At the end of the war most of the railway line war dismantled
by the Thais and today the passengers in the trains which still
run across the bridge are mainly tourists. To one side the remains
of the temporary wooden bridge erected during construction and
almost completely destroyed in an allied bomb attack still stand.
Nearby lies the modest but crucial Japanese monument, framed
by four cornerstones with inscriptions. At the end of November/beginning
of December each year, the first bombing of the bridge is commemorated
in an elaborate sound and light spectacle.
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