For the purposes of describing the involvement of the romusha, it can be said that that the majority of them worked in Thailand on the portion of the TBR from Hellfire Pass to the border area at Three Pagodas Pass.
In the Burmese Sector, the hired workers were almost exclusively native Burmese or Mon and Karen hilltribesmen. The conditions under which they labored, while far from ideal, were much better than those in the highlands of Thailand.
For the most part, the IJA overseers kept the romusha and the POWs separated but their camps were often near each other. All in all, the POWs had little direct contact with the romusha. Allied POWs describe working alongside, ‘dark skinned’ men beginning at about the Tarsoa Area (at about Km 125). The POWs had no knowledge of just who these ‘dark skinned’ men were, other than they were not Thai or Burmese.
Overall conditions worsen in both Sectors as work progressed farther from the base camps. But it was in the area closest to the Thai-Burma border that the worst conditions and the worst cholera outbreaks claimed the most romusha lives. If the overall death toll is accepted to be about 40% then that in the SongKurai – NiThae (aka Nike or NEEKAY; at Km 280-300) area must have been closer to 70%. It was in this area that over 1000 of POWs of F-Force died of cholera as well.
It was also in this general area that many thousands of Malay-Tamils remained in the jungle long after the TBR was completed in Oct 1943. Their new duty was to cut wood for fuel and to perform repairs and maintenance. Many were not consolidated to the large camp in Kanchanaburi until after the end of the war.
A more detailed description of the TBR can be found at https://www.uspowtbr.com/8-structure-of-the-tbr/
As can be seen in the maps shown, the TBR roughly follows the Kwae Noi River after ChungKai. What is less obvious is that just beyond the WangPo viaduct (Km 115), the chosen route moved inland away from the river. Between ChungKai (Km 60) and NamTok, the Japanese utilized boats and barges to ferry men and supplies to the camps. This became more difficult as the route moved away from the river and at the same time began its 300m climb to the Three Pagodas Pass. Generally speaking, this was all virgin jungle with no roads and few villages. It simply became increasingly difficult to move even a fraction of the supplies that would have been necessary to provide for the inhabitants of these camps. There are even reports that the IJA and Korean guards stooped to cannibalism – killing romusha – due to the severity of the shortages in supplies of all kinds. All of this was compounded by outbreaks of cholera in some of the romusha camps.
The Death Railway
The TBR acquired the name Death Railway based on the calculation that over its 415 Kms a worker died for even sleeper that was lain. In both Sectors, the first 50+ Kms were over flat, generally unobstructed terrain. Beginning at the 80Km point in Burma and running across the border and some 100+ Kms into Thailand is what can be called the highlands. Working in the lowlands was difficult enough, but in the highlands it was greatly compounded by the distance from the base camps and sources of supply, the lack of any roads, villages or infrastructure of any kind and the rapid influx of new workers. All of these factored into a perfect formula for death. And then cholera struck!
Remarkably, despite all of these negative factors, the TBR was completed in just 16 months, but at an almost unimaginable human cost.
The TBR today
Why is there so little in the way of historical markers or memorials dedicated to the TBR? The single item that the Thais have placed in this regard is near the bridge and consists of an account of TBR-related events.
One other, placed by the SRT seems to have disappeared over the years. This appeared in both English and Thai versions.
All the other reminders of WW2 events were place by non-Thai organizations. The oldest being the 1944 Japanese obelisk near the Bridge.
As is related in Section 24, technically the Thais who laid the first 50 Kms of track were part of the Asian Forced Laborers, but the circumstances of their employment were vastly different from the experiences of those who followed.
But most importantly, the Thais do not consider what transpired here to be part of Thai history. It was, after all, perpetrated by one group of foreigners or other groups of foreigners. The direct involvement by Thais was minimal and ended early. [see Section 24] Seemingly, neither the Thai government nor the Tourist Association has any real interest in educating the public about events of the era [1].
What we see today especially in the immediate area of the Bridge is a perfect amalgamation of Atrocity Heritage and Commodification. These are terms used in the Social Sciences literature to describe the inclination of people to be drawn to battlefields and other places where humans suffered at the hands of others (Atrocity Heritage) and the commercial exploitation (Commodification) that that interest brings.
Similarly, there is nothing in the way of Thai markers at the two CWGC cemeteries except those placed by that organization. The two TBR-related sites in Ratchburi: the NongPlaDuk SRT station and Wat Don Toom are also devoid of recognition of the role they played.
[1] Some years back, there was an effort to have the Bridge recognized as a World Heritage site; that was apparently vetoed by the Japanese.