Originally the IJA plan called for the entire railway to be built by ‘hired’ indigenous Asian workers. But after the fall of Singapore and the capitulation of the Dutch in the East Indies, they found themselves with nearly 200,000 Allied military POWs that they had not expected. They decided to use them alongside the Asian workers to construct the railway in the shortest time possible.
In May 1942, the first 3000 Allied POWs (mostly Australians) known as A-Force arrived in Burma. By June, they and ‘hired’ Burmese and ethnic Mon laborers had begun laying rails south from Thanbyuzayat. Also in mid-June, 3000 mostly British POWs known as Group 1 arrived at the Nong PlaDuk camp in Thailand. According to the official marker erected by the Japanese there, the start date of the Thai portion of the railway was set as 16 Sep.
Thai workers were hired to build the first 50 kilometers to Kanchanaburi. Since that portion, like in Burma, was over flat, unobstructed, agricultural land, this first section was completed in just a matter of weeks. In November, about 1500 British POWs were moved from Nong PlaDuk to ThaMaKam where they began to build the first of two bridges over the Mea Klong River. Just prior to that, the Headquarters of the IJA engineering and support staff (perhaps as many as 5000 soldiers at its peak) was also moved from BanPong to Kanchanaburi.
The TBR was built in sections and two different IJA Railway Units[1] were tasked with the job. One worked east from Thanbyuzayat Burma and the other west from NongPlaDuc Thailand. The first 50 or so kilometers in each direction were built by locally hired workers: Burmese or Thais. Since it was early in the process and they were working near their homes, they had an entirely different experience than did the later arriving romusha.
As trains began arriving from the south, a transit camp was established at Wat Don Toom in BanPong, Ratchburi. There the trains would halt after the multi-day journey and the occupants (either POWs or AFL) would be pushed off the cars and into the temple grounds. From there, they would begin the trek to their assigned places on the TBR. Most walked over 100 Kms (minimum) to those camps. Again, unlike the Allied POWs being brought from Singapore, they had no organization, no leadership and no real ‘kit’, except what they were carrying.
Once again, it must be noted that we have no records what so ever pertaining the timing and numbers of romusha who passed through this camp. We know only that the railway was the only means of transport of all of the workers and POWs from the south.
Records indicate that the Allied POWs were almost exclusively responsible for building the TBR from Kanchanaburi to the WangPo trestle. It was at camps beyond Kilo 120 that the vast majority of the romusha were forced to work. In some cases, it is documented that they worked alongside Allied POWs (at HellFire Pass for example). But in other cases, they worked separately (at the Pack of Cards trestle at Hintok).
[1] The 5th Regiment in Burma and the 9th in Thailand
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Major R. Campbell was one of the senior UK Medical Officers deployed to Thailand in JUN 1943 with the expectation that they could assist in alleviating the dire medical situation among the AFLs. Upon his return to Singapore he compiled an after-action report (NOV 45) in which he provides many unique details about the saga of the AFL.
Much of the data he cites is difficult to integrate into the larger picture, but it is worth documenting it. He opens his report with an accounting of the numbers of AFL from different sources; most of which are unverifiable.
He recounts the oft told story of the Japanese Corporal who supposedly related to an AUS Officer that there were 250,000 Malayans and 100,000 Javanese who worked the TBR of whom 170,000 died. This latter figured is agreed to be a huge overstatement. It is generally thought that 100K Javanese were taken from the island but that fewer than 10K (7500?) worked the TBR.
Another source puts the Malay-Tamil number at 80,000 of whom 30,000 died. An even higher estimate of Malay-Tamil deaths is 100,000.
He also notes that some of those laborers arrived in Thailand as late as the end of 1944. It is quite possible that he is referring to those who worked the Mergui Road.
He then goes on to relate some of the lies and subterfuge that the IJA used to recruit these workers (pgs 6-7). Although other sources hinted at such, Campbell describes with confidence how some of the AFL were assigned in small groups to perform maintenance on the lower end of the TBR in Thailand. He agrees that the majority were sent to the area closer to the Thai-Burma border overlapping with the work area of the POW F Force. These workers were arriving at Ban Pong in Apr 43 intermingled with the trains carrying F Force. They then began the 2-300 Km trek via Kanchanaburi and the Tadan Bridge to their assigned work camps. By his report 1/8th to 1/5th of the AFL did not complete that journey.
K Force is said to have included 164 UK POWs, 55 AU, and 11 Du (230 in total). Campbell tells us that included 30 medical officers and 200 ORs.
The bulk of his report (pgs 10-20) relates the dire conditions that they found upon arrival at the AFL camps. As expected be provides a litany of conditions that plagued them that parallels those described by the POWs but exacerbated by the lack of education and military organization among the AFL. While the maladies were the same, the mortality was considerably worst. The Allied POWs suffered an overall mortality of 20-22%. Among the AFL it was double that. Campbell adds that the psychological depression among this group was severe and suicide was quite common. Men would simply wander off into the jungle to die. While recorded among the POWs it was far from common.
For a variety of reasons, he notes that the morality rate from cholera was about 90%. He concurrently states the POW cholera mortality to be closer to 50%, but even that might be somewhat high. The most oft quoted number of POW deaths from cholera is just over 1300. Despite the dreadful impact of cholera he notes that the greatest killer for both groups was dysentery.
He also provides some facts that are not found elsewhere. It seems that the IJA ran a parallel string of ‘hospital camps’ in this upper TBR region with the sickest of both groups being moved away from the work camps. In all cases, very little was available in the way of actual treatments; these were in fact death camps.
He tells us that there was a hospital at the Ban Pong transit camp – Likely established after trains from Singapore stopped arriving. He also notes a grossly overcrowded ‘Coolie hospital’ in Kanchanaburi (1 of 2 apparently) that experienced over 5000 deaths over the course of 18 months – presumably MAY 43 to NOV 44. He says it housed 1500-3300 at any given time, but provides no information as to its exact location.
On page 21, he provide some detailed listing of death rates among some of the AFL groups. These generally are in the range of 50% survival.
He closes out the report (pgs 22-26) by describing the conditions at the various locations where the K Force ‘ministered’ to the AFL. The words ”dreadful” and “appalling” seem to apply universally. These reports include many instances where the K Force personnel were abused and exploited by their IJA masters and forced to perform many duties other than the medical care they were intended to provide. In many if not most camps, they answered to lower ranking IJA personnel with no medical training. He cites a report that 2 of 10 physicians at Tha Mayo died of cholera after they were billeted in a former cholera isolation tent. Unfortunately, the CWCG records no such deaths.
Another fact that is evident in this report but is rarely stated elsewhere is that the largest influx of AFL began in MAR 43. The first documentation via photos that we have of AFL working alongside POWs is at HellFire Pass. Work there began on 25 APR 43. It is possible if not likely that there were small groups of AFL at other points prior to HellFire. There is a brief mention of some working on the concrete bridge at Tamarkam. But LtCol Toosey makes no mention of them. There seems little doubt that the vast majority of the AFL worked at HellFire, Hintok and beyond in the F Force area.