CHUNGKAI WAR CEMETERY Thailand
Visiting Information:
Wheelchair access to this
cemetery with some difficulty. For further information regarding wheelchair
access, please contact 01628 507200.
Location
Information:
Chungkai War Cemetery is approximately 5 kilometres west of
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. It can be reached by road over the narrow Sudjai
Bridge, by ferry crossing at the junction of the two rivers, or by any of the
many river boats running up and down the rivers. The war cemetery can be located
on city maps available at the tourist office.
Historical Information:
The notorious Burma-Siam
railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a
Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the
large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000
prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to
100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour
brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies or conscripted in Siam (Thailand)
and Burma (Myanmar). Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in
Burma, worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre. The Japanese
aimed at completing the railway in 14 months and work began in October 1942. The
line, 424 kilometres long, was completed by December 1943. The graves of those
who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma-Siam railway
(except for the Americans, whose remains were repatriated) were transferred from
camp burial grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three cemeteries
at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar. Chungkai
was one of the base camps on the railway and contained a hospital and church
built by Allied prisoners of war. The war cemetery is the original burial ground
started by the prisoners themselves, and the burials are mostly of men who died
at the hospital. There are now 1,427 Commonwealth and 314 Dutch burials of the
Second World War in this cemetery. The cemetery was designed by Colin St Clair
Oakes.
No. of Identified
Casualties:
1691 |
