Death and Life at the Three-Pagoda Pass

Military History Quarterly

Spring 1993, volume 5 #3.

This article is about the Thai-Burma railway. In April, 1943, some 7000 British and Australian POWs were taken to the railway to work on it. This was a nightmare, yet another of the Japanese atrocities during the war. Many of the POWs were ill. There were problems with food, medicine, clothing and the like. Some came down with diseases even if they had been healthy at first. Many natives were also used, and perhaps 150,000 men died during the railroad construction.

It turned out to be pretty much useless, too, as the Americans were able to destroy about 2/3 rds of the railroads by bombing them.

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