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North Devon Remembers
Those who died in the Service of their Country
200,000
80,000
15,000
1,000
Animation:
6 images from the Japanese prisoner of war camps.
on the death railway Deaths
The Burma Campaign began in December 1941 and continued until 15 August 1945: although General Koiso Kuniaki, representing the Japanese Government, did not sign the formal document of surrender until 2 September.
Both 15 August & 2 September are known, internationally, as VJ-Day
The Burma Railway - better known as ‘The Death Railway’ - was built, during World War II, on the orders of the Japanese High Command: using Allied Prisoners of War and local villagers as enforced labour. It ran from Thanbyuzayat in Burma to Nong Pladuk in Thailand, a total distance of 260 miles (414km).
Japan was not a signatory to the Geneva Convention on the ‘Rights of Prisoners of War’ and they treated their captives in a singularly depraved manner.
Many Allied POWs were denied their basic food requirements; because the Japanese resources were significantly reduced due to successful allied air attacks on their major supply routes.
Additionally, prisoners received little medical care and many died unnecessarily of disease, exhaustion, malnutrition and/or physical torture.
The Burma Railway is only one of many notorious atrocities committed by the Japanese in the Far East during World War II.
External link to the war in Burma
The Burma Campaign, 1941 to 1945
The Kohima
When you go home,
Tell them of us and say,
“For your tomorrow,
We gave our today.”
