Burma Railway

Rare card · No. 67948

The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or locally as the Death Railway (Thai: ทางรถไฟสายมรณะ), is a 415 km (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 by abducted Southeast Asian civilians and captured Allied soldiers forced to work by the Japanese, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. The name used by the Imperial Japanese Government was Tai–Men Rensetsu Tetsudō (泰緬連接鉄道), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway. At least 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians were subjected to forced labour to ensure the construction of the Death Railway and more than 90,000 civilians died building it, as did around 12,000 Allied soldiers. The workers on the Thai side of the railway were Tamils, Malays, and fewer Chinese civilians from Malaya. Most workers were moved to 'rest camps...

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