Bridge on the River Kwai

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River Kwai 216.jpg (49722 bytes) The notorious Bridge on the River Kwai.

The curved spans are original, the angular spans in the middle were rebuilt by the Japanese as war reparation after they were bombed out by the allies at the end of the Second World War.

The bridge was part of the infamous Death Railway built in 1942-43 by prisoners of war and  local peasant labour under Japanese occupation.
Pedestrians and motorbikes are the main traffic over the bridge these days.   Niches between the spans  provide an escape in the event of an occasional train crossing. River Kwai 215.jpg (39919 bytes)
River Kwai 212.jpg (39028 bytes) It is estimated that of 30,000 POWs and over a 100,000 civilians in forced labour, 16,000 POWs and almost all the civilians died due to beatings, starvation, sickness and exhaustion in the building of the Railway.

6982 of those allied soldiers are buried here in this beautifully maintained cemetery.
Close by is the JEATH Museum, where original photographs and artifacts associated with  the building  of the railway are housed in   replica bamboo POW huts.

The name commemorates the main countries involved.   Japan,  England, Australia, Thailand and Holland.

 River Kwai 213.jpg (39567 bytes)
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