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The Death Railway A Dutch viewpoint |
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Japanese Forced Labour Camps at the Burma Railway Used with permission of the author, Lilian Sluyter Member support group, http://www.svjappenkamp.nl |
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CHAPTER 2. Organization of
the Labor.
Geneva Convention 1929, co-undersigned
by HRH The Emperor of Japan |
CHAPTER 2. Organization of the Labor.
Labor furnished by prisoners of war shall have no direct
relation with war operations.
ARTICLE 29.
No prisoner of war may be employed at labors for which
he is physically unfit.
ARTICLE 30.
The length of the day's work of prisoners of war, including
therein the trip going and returning, shall not be excessive....
From the Geneva Convention 1929, co-undersigned
by HRH The Emperor of Japan
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The destination was Changi, a Jap POW camp. As usual, the freshly
arrived allied captives from all over the archipellago stood in
long rows in the blazing tropical sun to "number", as
the roll-call Jap fashion was called: Itchey, ney, san,sey, go,
ro - Over and over again, as a never ending mantra. The year 1943
was only a few days old, and there were no signs of a Happy New
Year ahead. On the contrary. Rumour had it that a railroad for
military purposes was urgently needed in Burma, and the pows -
Aussies, Brits and Dutch - were to be transported from Changi
(Singapore) to Nan-Pong (Thailand) to build this rail track through
a jungle and mountainous area.
The first group consisted of 700 Dutch Royal Navy men. Early next
morning they had to board a freight train with steam lock. The
waggons were completely covered with metal sheets, which became
as hot as a furnace at midday, when the sun was at its hottest.
The men were packed in cars that were too small to hold about
thirty each. Cramped on the floor, trying not to touch the hot
metal sheets, the journey became an ordeal. Smoke and soot from
the lock penetrated the waggons. And during the whole trip, the
train regularly stopped for hours in the blazing sun, to let opposing
trains pass, the railroad being a single track. At night lying
on the floor was quite impossible. Dysenteria excretions, urine
and sweat made the atmosphere inside the carriages unbearable.
Food became a problem too. Their last meal was had at Changi and
that was quite frugal. Thank God for the natives, who always tried
to approach the waiting train to sell eatables, and on the pityful
sight of the men, even offered food for free. Contact with the
natives was strictly forbidden. Sometimes the accompanying Japs
turned a blind eye. On other times they found pleasure in hitting
and severely wounding the men with their bayonets,or beat the
hell out of them - just for the fun of it.
On the fifth day the train arrived at Ban-Pong (Thailand), where
the men could finally disembark, and stretch their legs. Not for
long, though. The prisoners had to be counted again and again,
and the numbering ritual started, to last for several hours.
The men were told that they were commissioned to build a railway
through the jungle from Pladuk (Thailand) to the Three Pagoda
Pass at the Burma border. This railway was intended to connect
the existing railway to Rangoon and into India. The track was
to become 414 kilometres long, with a height difference of 300
metres and had to include, cross-overs and bridges, including
the Bridge on the River Kwai (Khwae Noi), which became well-known
from the film. However, life of a captive forced labourer was
not quite as funny as in the film. It became worse than hell,
in which survival was almost impossible. In actual fact, the men
were on death row, and they knew it. Many thousands died from
undernourishment, hard labour, torture, tropical diseases and
neglect.
They worked while they lasted, and for replenishment there were
male prisoners and natives galore. It was the cheapest and most
effective genocide ever. Corpses don't need to be sustained, and
before they became corpses they made themselves useful to the
glory of the Imerpial Japanese Army. No Jap cared, as long as
the railway was ready as targeted. The target was 2 kilometres
per day. The deadline December 1943.
Speedo-speedo (faster-faster) became the watchword. And when during
the process the target date was moved back to October 1943, the
speedo-speedo intensified, which consequently ended up in more
casualties.
A group of British pows had started the preparatory work in June
1942. Those who were still alive looked a pityful sight. Bearded,
all skin and bones, covered with tropical sores, and living in
delapidated huts. The newly arrived had few illusions.
Humidity was high in the jungle. And temperatures rose to some
40 degrees C (104 F) at midday. And then there was the monsoon
with its non-stop tropical rains. The sludge, through which the
heavy tree trunks had to be dragged by manpower, made the work
extra hard. Apart from the sadistic guards, of which the Koreans
were the worst, wants, white lice and scorpions added up to the
misery of the men, who already suffered from the hard labour,
the long hours, malnutrition and severe tropical diseases. (Recurrent
tropical diseases: malaria, dysenteria, cholera, typhoid, beri-beri,
hepatitus A, pellegra, tropical ulcers )
They had to work themselves through the jungle by felling each
and every tree by hand saws and axes - and a jungle has thousands
of trees and bushes that are in the way when one has to build
a railroad or yet another camp. Naturally, camp building was not
part of the railway project. So building barracks was considered
a do-it-yourselves leisure activity the men had to do when they
came back after a long day of hard labor. And many barracks had
to be built along the way, as the railway track progressed. The
Dutch Royal Navy junior seaman Adrian Kannegieter (now
81), listed a number of the forced labour camps on the Burma Railway.
He was in several of them (in bold):
Pladuk 0**
Bangkok -55
Nakhon-Pathom -5
Non-Pladuk I 0
Non-Pladuk II 0 (start of Railway)
Non-Pladuk Provisioning camp 0
Ban-Pong 5
Tamuan 39
De Brug (Bridge) 55
Chunkai 57
Wampo (viaduct) 114
Tarsau 131
Kinsayok 172
Rin Tin 181
Kuye 190
Hindato 198
Brankansi 208
Takanum 218
Bangan 229
Houthakkerskamp (Lumberjack Camp) 240
Three Pagoda Camp (border) 303
(** number of kilometres from Non-Pladuk)
Adrian's group was transported from Ban-Pong to Tarsau
where they met a group of British 'bonebags'. Adrian's group was
lucky to be transported by truck. Later they found out that new
groups had to walk to their camps. According to their deplorable
physical state they looked like "dead men walking".
The next move was from Tarsau to Kinsayok. Here again they
met British quartermasters looking like skeletons.
After a few weeks groups of dead-tired and worn out prisoners
passed Kinsayok Camp on (bare) foot on their way to Rin
Tin and Hindato. They must have walked for ten days or more
from Ban-Pong where they had arrived by train from Singapore.
In February 1943, a group of 500 Dutch men was selected to go
to the new camp Brankansi (208 kms). Of the new arrivals
many died and were replenished by Aussies and Brits.
In October 1943 Adrian was moved to Non-Pladuk II, one
of the "replenishment" centers in Pladuk. In
December 1943 he was transported to Hindato , a place with
two camps, one for the Japs and one for their prisoners. In August
1944, they moved him to Non-Pladuk I, a huge camp with
lots of barracks and no trees, so nowhere to hide from the burning
sun. There he and another Dutch prisoner, were selected for the
Non-Pladuk Provisioning camp, and he thanked God for this
lucky day. This camp appeared to be a storage camp for food and
medicins. Sometimes even relief parcels from the International
Red Cross came in. Adrian and his Dutch mate soon discovered that
the Jap guards were highly skilled thieves. And so were both Dutch
men, for that matter. All of a sudden the camp physicians had
plenty of bandages and medicines and there was extra food for
the patients.
But for a few bombardments by the Allies with some hundred casulaties
and deaths, Adrian's time at the Non-Pladuk Provision Camp
were the best in his whole pow life. Unfortunately, after a few
months the Kempei-tai (Japanese military police similar to the
notorious Gestapo in Nazi Germany) found out that provisions were
being stolen. Two Jap guards were caught and severly punished,
but they never found the goods stolen by the Dutch. These were
carefully and safely stowed away undergrounds.Anyway, suspicion
was aroused, and Adrian was taken back to Non-Pladuk I
in October 1944. A month later he had to move again. This time
to Kuye, a small maintenance camp on the river (Kwai).
In June 1945 the constant bombing by the Allies ruined parts of
the Railway, so Adrian was moved to the Houthakkerskamp
(Lumberjack camp) for reparation work. Although far from the living
world, it was there he heard that Germany had lost the war and
Japan was on the loosing side. Another mate and he were the only
white persons in this camp. The Jap guards were the worst sadists,
and the two caucasians became their favorite targets. One day
he was beaten so severely that he lost his zest for life. And
it was thanks to his caring Eurasian camp mates that he stayed
alive and eventually recuperated.
A few weeks later, around mid August 1945, the camp inhabitants
were ordered to dig holes in the ground, size 2 metres wide and
1 metre deep. Machine-guns were mounted around them in the corners
of the campsite. The men understood exactly what the ditches were
meant for. What could they do in case the Japs started to execute
their monstrous plan? Having been able to cope with all the atrocities
for all these years the men went through the worst days of their
pow existence as the lived with the prospect of being slaughtered
like cattle.
However, during the following weeks things began to happen that
were out of the ordinary. Quite unexpectantly, the prisoners got
better food, they were not beaten up, and they were allowed to
stay in the camp to relax. But that wasn't for long.
One day they were suddenly ordered to speedo-speedo pack their
things and board a small motor train with open waggons. Immediately
upon boarding, the train departed as if in a great haste. At the
stop places they were even fed. And no Japanese troops in sight,
but for their two guards. On passing, the men observed that the
camps they knew so well, were completely deserted. Had the inhabitants
been already been massacred ? What the hell was going on?
After two days the train arrived at a small station, where they
were ordered to get off and continue their way on foot to the
nearest camp, which was Tamuan. All of a sudden, in the
distance, Andrian discovered a white MP in a uniform which was
different from the ones they had seen for over three years. But
he did not dare to yell in case it was just a spectre.What
do you make out of all this? he whispered to his mate. Do
you also think that this means the war is over? But the men
didn't dare to speak it out loud, just in case they were seeing
things wrong.
The group entered an overcrowded Tamuan Camp and sank down
on the ground, completely exhausted. Out of the blue a friend,
whom Adrian hadn't seen for a long time, appeared from the crowd.
Adrian yelled to him: Does this mean the war is really over?
His friend yelled back: Sure enough. We celebrated the Queen's
birthday almost two weeks ago! (31st August - HRH Wilhelmina,
Queen of the Netherlands from 1898-1948). Adrian figured out that
this meant it should be some day in September.
To be precise: Adrian's Liberation Day was the 12th September
1945, almost a full month after Japan surrendered and ten
days after the signing of the Declaration of total surrender on
the Missouri. He had made it. But it was only towards the end
of December 1945 that the men were finally able to leave Burma,
the country where tens of thousands of prisoners of different
nationalities were forced to build the now famous Burma Railway,
struggeling to stay alive.
The Burma Raiway had become a knockout race of the fittest. And
for those who made it, life had almost ended in a massacre.
Thanks to a strange turn of fate and the atom bombs, the Japs
did not come round to execute the Secret Imperial Order of 1944
to kill all European and Eurasian prisoners, as soon as the Allies
were invading their conquered territories or Japan itself.
Lilian Sluyter (Holland) based this short story on the
manuscript of Adrian Kannegieter (1920), former Royal Dutch
Navy junior seaman, who by sheer chance arrived in the former
Dutch East Indies, because their vessel was unable to sail back
to her home port in the Netherlands, due to the German occupation
(1940-1945).
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