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:''This article is about the railway constructed by Japan during World War II. For articles relating to the railways of the country Burma, see Rail transport in Burma''. The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, the Burma–Siam Railway, the Thailand–Burma Railway and similar names, was a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma, built by the Empire of Japan in 1943 to support its forces in the Burma campaign of World War II. This railway completed the railroad link between Bangkok, Thailand and Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon). The line was closed in 1947, but the section between Nong Pla Duk and Nam Tok was reopened ten years later in 1957.〔 Forced labour was used in its construction. More than 180,000—possibly many more—Asian civilian labourers (Romusha) and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway. Of these, estimates of Romusha deaths are little more than guesses, but probably about 90,000 died. 12,621 Allied POWs died during the construction. The dead POWs included 6,904 British personnel, 2,802 Australians, 2,782 Dutch, and 133 Americans.〔MacPherson, Neil, "Death Railway Movements", http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/death_rr/movements_1.html, accessed 6 January 2015〕 After the end of World War II, 111 Japanese and Koreans were tried for war crimes because of their brutalization of POWs during the construction of the railway. 32 were sentenced to death.〔"Australian prisoners of war on the Thai-Burma railway, 1942–1945" http://hellfire-pass.commemoration.gov.au/after-the-war/war-crimes-trials.php, accessed 6 January 2015〕 The construction of the railway has been the subject of a novel and an award-winning film, ''The Bridge on the River Kwai''; a novel, ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' by Richard Flanagan; plus a large number of personal accounts of POW experiences. More recently, the motion picture ''The Railway Man'' also gives insight into the barbaric conditions and suffering that were inflicted upon the workers who built the railway. == History == A railway route between Burma and Thailand, crossing Three Pagodas Pass and following the valley of the Kwhae Noi river in Thailand had been surveyed by the British government of Burma as early as 1885, but the proposed course of the line – through hilly jungle terrain divided by many rivers – was considered too difficult to undertake.〔MacArthur, Brian (2005), ''Surviving the Sword'', New York: Random House, pp. 43〕 In early 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma and seized control of the colony from the United Kingdom. To supply their forces in Burma, the Japanese depended upon the sea, bringing supplies and troops to Burma around the Malay peninsula and through the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea. This route was vulnerable to attack by Allied submarines, especially after the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. To avoid a hazardous sea journey around the Malay peninsula, a railway from Bangkok, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma seemed a feasible alternative.〔Daws, Gavan (1994), ''Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific'', New York: William Morrow, pp, 183–184〕 The Japanese began the project in June 1942. The project aimed to connect Ban Pong in Thailand with Thanbyuzayat in Burma, linking up with existing railways at both places. Its route was through the Three Pagodas Pass on the border of Thailand and Burma. of the railway were in Burma and the remaining were in Thailand. The movement of POWs northward from Changi prison in Singapore and other prison camps in Southeast Asia began in May 1942. After preliminary work of airfields and infrastructure, construction of the railway began in Burma on 15 September 1942 and in Thailand in November. The projected completion date was December 1943.〔MacArthur, pp. 43–48 The goal for completion of the railway was December 1943.〕 Most of the construction materials, including tracks and sleepers, were brought from dismantled branches of Malaya's Federated Malay States Railway network and the East Indies' various rail networks. The railway was completed ahead of schedule. On 17 October 1943, construction gangs originating in Burma and working south met up with construction gangs originating in Thailand and working north. The two sections of the line met at kilometer 263, about south of the Three Pagodas Pass at Konkuita (Kaeng Khoi Tha, Sangkhla Buri district, Kanchanaburi Province).〔Waterford, Van (1994), ''Prisoners of the Japanese in World War II'', Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. Inc, Publishers, p. 243〕 The Burma railway was an impressive accomplishment. As an American engineer said after viewing the project, “What makes this an engineering feat is the totality of it, the accumulation of factors. The total length of miles, the total number of bridges — over 600, including six to eight long-span bridges — the total number of people who were involved (one-quarter of a million), the very short time in which they managed to accomplish it, and the extreme conditions they accomplished it under. They had very little transportation to get stuff to and from the workers, they had almost no medication, they couldn’t get food let alone materials, they had no tools to work with except for basic things like spades and hammers, and they worked in extremely difficult conditions — in the jungle with its heat and humidity. All of that makes this railway an extraordinary accomplishment.”〔"The Bridges of the Thai Burma Railway," Public Broadcasting System, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/the-bridges-of-the-thailand-burma-railway/178/, accessed 8 January 2015〕 The total freight carried during the war was 500,000 tonnes and two Japanese Army divisions. Even without accounting for the deaths and deprivation of romusha, prisoners and Japanese this is a poor return for the effort of the railway's construction and indicates that the railway was a strategic failure. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Burma Railway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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