(Picture above is from internet)
The Bridge of River Kwae was built during World War II.
****************History***********
During early 1942, Japanese forces occupied much of British Burma as far as The Indian border. In June 1942, in order to supply the war effort against India, the Japanese began construction of a railway from Bahn Pong (Thailand Southern Line) along the Kwae valley, and across the Three Pagodas Pass, connecting with the Burmese railway network at Thanbyuzayat.
About 60,000 allied P.O.W.'s and a much greater number of Malays and other Asians were used as forced labour. Most allied P.O.W.'s arrived in Thailand by train from Singapore: British and Australian military jammed 26 to a box car with rubber planters, traders and colonial administrators, for a journey that even today takes the best part of three days. From Bahn Pong they were marched up the valley of the Kwae Noi to the construction camps, where the real misery began.
Conditions were appalling: backbreaking work from dawn to dusk in very difficult terrain, tropical heat or monsoon rains, and always swarms of insects. Already suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion, thousands succumbed to Cholera, Dysentery, Cerebral Malaria and the the casual thuggery of their Japanese and Korean captors. It is estimated that over 100,000 Asians and more than 16,000 allied P.O.W.'s died during the construction.
The Jeath War Museum is located by the river on Song Kwai Rd., near Wat Chaichumphon Chana Songkhram. The building is a reconstruction of a thatched POW hut, with bamboo bunks. On the wall are photographs of POW living conditions and various memorabilia.
A private "Art Gallery and War Museum" is located just down river from the River Kwai Bridge. The main feature is a Japanese locomotive outside the main door, but the museum has quite a few interesting remnants of the war. Much of the museum, however, is given over to general Thailand memorobilia, including portraits of Kings and Prime Ministers.
Bridge 277 is located at the north end of town is the River Kwai Bridge, still in use more than 60 years after World War II though with 2 spans replaced after the end of the war. As can be imagined, this is a great tourist attraction, especially at the times when the west-bound trains are due to crawl over the bridge.
The main War cemetary is on Saengchuto Rd., not far from Kanchanaburi Railway Station. It is located near what was the site of the main POW transit camp. The cemetary contains the remains of more than 5000 Commonwealth and 1800 Dutch POWs, many of them in their early twenties. On the other side of the river, on the site of Chong Kai POW camp, is a second smaller cemetary. The location is about 2km south west of the town on Lin Chang Bahn Kao Rd.
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