JessePOW

**Thai-Burma Railway** The Thai-Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway or simply the Burma Railway, is a 415km railway line built between June 1942 and 16 October 1943. The Japanese, who had invaded Burma from Thailand in 1942, needed a way to send supplies to their forces in Burma. Routes through the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea were highly vulnerable to Allied submarine attacks. So, the Japanese decided to use the previous plan by the British government, who had not began development on the railway as they considered the line too difficult to complete, to construct a railway between Bangkok, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma to transport supplies. Forced labour was used to construct the line, which cut through steep jungle hills and many rivers. Around 12,000 Australian prisoners of war were involved the building of the line, Many of these Australian POW’s were sent from the infamous Changi Prison to work in poorer conditions than they had left. Of these men, exact figures of deaths is uncertain, however, the estimated numbers range from 2,600 to 2,800. These deaths came at the hands of starvation, disease, exhaustion and brutality by Japanese and Korean captors and it is interesting to note that Australian soldiers suffered the lowest death rate amongst other POW’s. Guards did not operate under international laws regarding treatment of prisoners and as such, they beat, taunted and violently mistreated Allied POW’s both during work on the railway, and in the camps used in the all too brief and uncommon times when POW’s were not assisting in the construction. Food portions were small and usually dirty or spoiled and never provided the proper nutritional content such as protein and vitamins. The meagre supplies given to POW’s expected to work on a railway is unthinkable and hard to comprehend, but their Japanese captors didn’t seem to worry much about their prisoners and were probably more focused on actual results rather how the prisoners would achieve such results on the food they were getting. While Allied doctors were present at the railway, their ability to help the sick and injured was hindered by limited supplies. As such, soldiers were left to their own devices to keep themselves as healthy as possible in the conditions. This included grinding small bits of charcoal into their small rice supply to counteract the effects of dysentery, using a spoon to bleed out an infection as bandages were not issued to stop such problems and eating local flora to try and boost their vitamin B intake which was very low due to lack of proper nourishment. This ingenuity and willingness to live was what got the POW’s through the challenging experience. As well as battling physical and mental abuse at the hands of the Japanese soldiers, lack of proper food and tropical diseases, the POW’s had to deal with the even tougher conditions working on the railway. Early on, the Japanese had set a seemingly impossible deadline of August 1943, pushing the POW’s to their limits. Regardless of fitness and health, Allied soldiers had to work for 24 hour shifts. These shifts involved clearing dense rainforest so that the tracks could be laid on even ground and moving 0.6 cubic meters of earth each day per person. This amount was doubled for Australian soldiers who completed their work quicker than the rest. To make matters worse, the railway line was bombed by the Allies who did not know that the Japanese were using Allied soldiers to build the line. At the completion of the line, those still alive were transported back to Changi prison, or kept in POW camps in Burma and Thailand, left to wait another 2 years until the Axis was defeated. The intense conditions of the railway left an imprint on the Australian POW minds, meaning that for even those who survived and went back to living a normal life, they would never be quite the same again in the way they thought and reacted to things because of their experiences. In regards to the Australian identity proved by the Australian POW’s actions on the railway, such as their lower death rate which shows their never-give-up spirit and determination as well as the Japanese recognising how quickly they worked compared to the other POW’s, it is clear that even in disastrous situations, the Australian identity can still be found. **Sandakan Death Marches** In 1942, Australian and British POW’s were sent to Sandakan, Borneo to construct an airstrip, much like the Thai-Burma Railway, in the Japanese occupied country. There poor treatment while constructing the airway was not the worst the prisoners would go through, however. In late 1944, as Allied forces began to advance towards Borneo, the Japanese sent about 2,000 Australian and British prisoners on what would be later called “the death march” to Ranau, west of Sandakan. Hiking through 260 km through hot and humid jungle with little food and much physical abuse, many died on the marches from the harsh conditions, their bodies lost forever never to be seen again. When unable to continue walking, prisoners were killed. Of the 1,000 or so Australians sent on the march only six managed to survive. All six men to survive, did so because they escaped. This march is considered by many to be the single greatest atrocity committed against Australians during WWII. During the initial march, which was conducted by prisoners thought fit to march by the Japanese, the prisoners were only given enough rations for four days. The forced march to Ranau was long and hard, with many trying to escape only to be hunted down and beaten, urinated on and eventually killed for doing so. Upon arriving at Ranau many died from dysentery or exhaustion. Prisoners in the second marches, who were less fit than those from the first group, were given even less rations to eat. Men left at Sandakan after the second march departed were initially left to starve to death by their captors. Eventually, a few were selected march. Of those men, none survived beyond walking 50 km and as they fell from exhaustion, they were shot. Before the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, the remaining men in Sandakan who could not physically march died from starvation and sickness, or were simply murdered by the Japanese captors. These marches were significant because of the shear brutality and unnecessary deaths surrounding them. Known as the single greatest atrocity committed against Australians during the war, it is a symbol of the ultimate hardships Australian POW’s endured. It is also a symbol of the Aussie spirit, as the six men to survive the marches did so by escaping, using their never-give-up attitude, courage, bravery and wits: all common traits among the “bushman” image. **Richard Murray** Private Richard Murray was one of the men who died at Ranau after the gruelling march. He and his mate, Private Keith Botterill planned to escape and decided they needed adequate food to do so. They stole rice from the Japanese to build up food supplies for the escape. When the Japanese learnt of the theft, Murray selflessly took responsibility for the theft to protect Botterill, knowing full well he would be killed for his crime. He was viciously bayoneted by the Japanese, and his body was thrown into a bomb crater at Ranau. In the end, Murray’s sacrifice wasn't in vain as Botterill later became one of the six survivors of the marches.
 * __Australian POWs in WWII__** **__Jesse 10C__**

**Albert Cleary** A young man from Geelong, Albert Cleary was part of the first march to Ranau. Seeing men dying from sickness and starvation every day on the march, Cleary decided he would not be one of those men to succumb to the march and escaped into the jungles of Borneo. After a week of evading Japanese soldiers, he was eventually recaptured. He was punished for escaping by a savage beating before being tied to a log. For another eleven days guards beat him as he lay helpless on the log. They also spat and urinated on him indignantly. His punishment was used as somewhat of an example to the other prisoners to deter them from trying to escape. When he was close to death, the prisoners were given permission to untie him from the log. They took him to a creek where he was washed ad placed him in a hut where he would later die from his wounds and starvation.

**Bibliography**

__Thai Burma Railway__ [] [|http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-91_t-199_c-666/australian-prisoners-of-war-changi-and-the-burma-thailand-railway/nsw//war-time-experiences/] [] [] __Sandakan Death March__ [] []