The War Museum is one of two war museums about the Death Railway built in 1942 / 1943. It is located only 300 metres from the Bridge on the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi.
The Museum is located in the grounds of a temple at the junction of the Kwai Yai and Kwai Noi Rivers.
The Burma Railway, also know as the Death Railway, the Thailand - Burma Railway and similar names, is a 415 km railway between Bangkok, Thailand and Rangoon, Burma, built by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, to support its forces in the Burma campaign. Forced labour was used in its construction.
About 200,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war worked on the railway. Of these, around 100,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied POW's died as a direct result of the project. The railway connection between Thailand and Burma had been surveyed at the beginning of the 20th century by the British Government of Burma, but the route - through hilly jungle terrain divided by many rivers, was considered too difficult to complete. |