1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: show that pays tribute to people of the past by 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 1: sharing their stories. Today, I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: we're reflecting on a grim milestone in World War II history, 6 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: the day when construction was completed on the aptly named 7 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: Death Railway. The day was October seventeenth, nineteen forty three. 8 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: After a year of grueling labor, the two sides of 9 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: the Burma Railway were joined at the Conkoita Pow camp 10 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: in Thailand. When the weary, emaciated workers drag the final 11 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: railway ties into place, it marked the end of one 12 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: of the most ambitious engineering projects in human history. In 13 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: just thirteen months, they had constructed a two hundred and 14 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: fifty eight mile long railway stretching from Nong Pladuk, near 15 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: the Thai capital of Bangkok, all the way to Tanbuziyat, 16 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,959 Speaker 1: deep in the heart of Japanese occupied Burma, or Myanmar 17 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: as it's known today. It was an impressive feat achieved 18 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: through the most vile means imaginable. Although Thailand remained neutral 19 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: during the Second World War, its close proximity to the 20 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: British colony of Burma made it a tempting target for 21 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: the Axis powers. By early nineteen forty two, its land 22 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: had fallen into the hands of Japanese soldiers and a 23 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: forced alliance was made, granting japan full access to Thai infrastructure. 24 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: This allowed the invading army to gather and prepare for 25 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: attacks against the British. However, the existing railways fell far 26 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: short of what was needed to sustain and assist the 27 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: Japanese campaign. As early as nineteen thirty nine, the Japanese 28 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,919 Speaker 1: had considered building a new rail line in Southeast Asia, 29 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: one that could transport three thousand tons of supplies each 30 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: day to the front line and Burma. The plan was 31 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: ultimately abandoned due to the difficulty of building a railway 32 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: through Burma's dense jungles, jagged mountains, and raging rivers. But then, 33 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty two, the Japanese navy suffered major losses 34 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: during the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the 35 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: Coral Sea. Then the Allied forces pressed their advantage by 36 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: cutting off Japan's access to vital supply routes. This left 37 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: the Japanese with no way to supply their troops in Perma, 38 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: forcing them to revisit their plan for a railway. Constructing 39 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: this new infrastructure would be a daunting task, as most 40 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: of the track would require workers to build high bridges 41 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: and carve out solid rock to create passes through the mountains. 42 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: Japanese engineers estimated that it would take about five years 43 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,079 Speaker 1: to build the more than two hundred and fifty miles 44 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: of railway needed, but when construction began on September sixteenth, 45 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, the deadline for the project's completion was 46 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: set for just fifteen months later. The undertaking would require 47 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,639 Speaker 1: a massive labor force, but the Japanese Empire had no 48 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: intention of using its own manpower to complete it. Instead, 49 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: it used sixty one thousand captured prisoners of war, as 50 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: well as another three hundred thousand Asian workers rounded up 51 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: from Burma, Thailand, China, and Indonesia. The Geneva Protocol explicitly 52 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: forbade combatants from using POWs for war related activities, but 53 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: Japan flouted this rule and put the Allied prisoners to work. 54 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: The enslaved laborers were kept in a network of camps 55 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: that stretched throughout Thailand and burma, and although they were 56 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: vital to the project's completion, the prisoners were subjected to 57 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: appalling acts of cruelty. Many were beaten, shot, or stabbed 58 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: to death by their overseers for minor infractions, while even 59 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: more succumbed to diseases such as malaria, cholera, dysentery and 60 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: typhoid Sickness spread easily in the squalor of the labour camps, 61 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: where prisoners were denied even basic hygiene. Exhaustion and starvation 62 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: were very real threats as well, as the prisoners were 63 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: forced to complete their backbreaking labour on a diet of 64 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: as little as six hundred calories a day. The jungle 65 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: environment piled further anguish on to the workers, sapping their 66 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 1: strength with high heat and humidity, and exposing them to 67 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: a persistent swarm of lice and other insects. The camp's 68 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: record keeping was haphazard at best, but it's believed that 69 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: more than eighty thousand enslaved Southeast Asians lost their lives 70 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: while constructing the railway. In addition, at least sixteen thousand British, Dutch, 71 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: Australian and American soldiers died as well. A post war 72 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: study placed the death rate of Western POWs and Japanese 73 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,840 Speaker 1: camps at twenty seven point one percent, seven times higher 74 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: than that of soldiers held in German and Italian camps. 75 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 1: In total, it's estimated that more than one hundred thousand 76 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 1: people died during the construction, approximately one worker for every 77 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: railroad tie that was laid. Many of those casualties came 78 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: during an aggressive period of construction known as Speedo, a 79 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,720 Speaker 1: Japanese transliteration of the word speed. In order to meet 80 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: their looming deadline of December nineteen forty three, workers were 81 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: forced to increase their pace between April and August of 82 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 1: that year. In the regular construction phase, for example, prisoners 83 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: were expected to work ten to twelve hours a day, 84 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: but during the Speedo period, the work day was increased 85 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,480 Speaker 1: to fifteen hours, and then again to eighteen. When workers 86 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,720 Speaker 1: were deemed too slow, they were forced to endure harsh 87 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: physical punishments, and as a result, the body count rose 88 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: even higher. In the end, the railway was completed on 89 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: October seventeen, nineteen forty three, two months ahead of schedule. 90 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 1: Those who survived its construction would spend another two years 91 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: in captivity. During that time, Many of the six hundred 92 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: bridges that supported the railway were repeatedly bombed by Allied forces, 93 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 1: though the Japanese were still able to use it to 94 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: supply their troops in Burma. After the war ended, one 95 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: hundred and eleven Japanese servicemen were convicted of war crimes 96 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:43,160 Speaker 1: committed during the railway's construction, thirty two of whom were executed. 97 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: As for the railway itself, much of it was dismantled 98 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: shortly after the war, and most of the rest was 99 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: reclaimed by the Tie and Burmese Jungles. However, an eighty 100 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: mile stretch of the track still operates today, a lasting 101 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: monument to the cruelty of those who oversaw its construction 102 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: and to the perseverance of those who built it. I'm 103 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more 104 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd like 105 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: to keep up with the show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, 106 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: and Instagram. You can find us at TDI HC Show. 107 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: You can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, 108 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: or you can get in touch directly by writing to 109 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays 110 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 111 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 112 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: in history class.