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Camp Chungkai
Chungkai War Cemetery, also known as Chung Kai War Cemetery, is a war cemetery in Tha Ma Kham near Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Established in the 1950s, the cemetery hosts the graves of 1,426 British and 313 Dutch prisoners of war who died during World War II. It was originally a prisoner of war camp on the Burma Railway. Description The cemetery at Chungkai hosts the graves of 1,426 British and 313 Dutch servicemen who died during World War II. The majority of the interred died building the sections of the nearby Burma Railway. The cemetery is built on the site of a prisoner of war camp used by the Japanese army to house Allied POWs during the conflict. In 1946, it was decided to re-bury the Burma Railway deaths which were buried in many graveyards along the line in three large cemeteries. The current Chungkai cemetery is an extension of the existing camp cemetery. American POWs were repatriated back to the United States. The status of the Australian soldiers is unclear. One sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spans . Thailand Template:Borders of Thailand, is bordered to the northwest by Myanmar, to the northeast and east by Laos, to the southeast by Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the southwest by the Andaman Sea; it also shares maritime borders with Vietnam to the southeast and Indonesia and India to the southwest. Bangkok is the state capital and List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, largest city. Tai peoples, Thai peoples migrated from southwestern China to mainland Southeast Asia from the 6th to 11th centuries. Greater India, Indianised kingdoms such as the Mon kingdoms, Mon, Khmer Empire, and Monarchies of Malaysia, Malay states ruled the region, competing with Thai states s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanchanaburi
Kanchanaburi (, ) is a town municipality ('' thesaban mueang'') in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. The town of lies to the southeast of Erawan National Park within Kanchanaburi Province, approximately 120km west of Bangkok. In 2006 it had a population of 31,327. That number was reduced to 25,651 in 2017. The town covers ''tambons'' Ban Nuea and Ban Tai and parts of Pak Phraek and Tha Makham, all of Mueang Kanchanaburi District, and parts of ''tambon'' Tha Lo of Tha Muang District. History In the late 18th century, Kanchanaburi was established by King Rama I as a defensive outpost against possible Burmese attacks in what is now Lat Ya Sub-district. In 1833, the town was moved about 16 km to the southeast along the river to its present site during the reign of King Rama III. From the Ayutthaya period to the Thonburi and Rattanakosin periods, Kanchanaburi was an important outpost to defend against Burmese invasions. The old town was located at Tambon Lat Ya (Khao Chon K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The commission was founded by Fabian Ware, Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through royal charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960. The commission, as part of its mandate, is responsible for commemorating all Commonwealth war dead individually and equally. To this end, the war dead are commemorated by a name on a headstone, at an identified site of a burial, or on a memorial. War dead are commemorated uniformly and equally, irrespective of military or civil rank, race or creed. The co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prisoner Of War
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons. These may include isolating them from enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and Repatriation, repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishment, prosecution of war crimes, labour exploitation, recruiting or even conscripting them as combatants, extracting collecting military and political intelligence, and political or religious indoctrination. Ancient times For much of history, prisoners of war would often be slaughtered or enslaved. Early Roman gladiators could be prisoners of war, categorised according to their ethnic roots as Samnites, Thracians, and Gauls (''Galli''). Homer's ''Iliad'' describes Trojan and Greek soldiers offeri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burma Railway
The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 by Southeast Asian civilians abducted and forced to work by the Japanese and by captured Allied soldiers, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. The name used by the Imperial Japanese Government was ''Tai–Men Rensetsu Tetsudō'' (), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway. At least 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians were subjected to forced labour to ensure the construction of the Death Railway and more than 90,000 civilians died building it, as did around 12,000 Allied soldiers. The workers on the Thai side of the railway were Tamils, Malays, and fewer Chinese civilians from Malaya. Most of these civilians were moved to ‘rest camp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin St Clair Oakes
Colin St Clair Oakes MBE ARIBA (23 May 1908 – 12 December 1971) was a British architect. He was a Principal Architect for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission) responsible for many of the war cemeteries and memorials in Asia after the second world war. Notable amongst these are Kranji War Cemetery and Memorial in Singapore, Sai Wan War Cemetery in Hong Kong, and Kohima War Cemetery in Nagaland, India. Early life Oakes was born in the village of Llansannan in North Wales, the second child of Leonard George Rycroft Oakes (1879–1969) and Mary St. Claire (1872–1957), a sister Elaine born two years prior. His father Leonard was an architect who worked for the Middlesex County Architects Department. He completed his early education at the Harrow County School. In 1927 he enrolled in the architecture programme at the Northern Polytechnic School of Architecture (now London Metropolitan University), then under the direction of British abstrac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mae Klong River
The Mae Klong (, , ), sometimes spelled Meklong, is a river in western Thailand. The river begins in Kanchanaburi Province and flows across Ratchaburi Province and Samut Songkhram Province. Course The origin of the river is in Kanchanaburi town, at the confluence of the Khwae Noi (Khwae Sai Yok) and the Khwae Yai River (Khwae Si Sawat) rivers, having their sources in the eastern side of the Tenasserim Hills. It flows roughly southeastwards and southwards, often forming meanders across a wide floodplain. The river passes by the towns of Ban Pong and Ratchaburi in Ratchaburi Province. Finally it ends in a swampy delta by the town of Samut Songkhram and empties into the northwestern shore of the Bay of Bangkok, Gulf of Thailand. The main reservoir on the river is formed by the Mae Klong Dam. Environment The Mae Klong river basin has a tropical savanna climate, and is subject to two major thermal systems, the southwest and the northeast monsoons. The southwest monsoon brings mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamarkan
Tamarkan (also: ''Tha Makhan'') was a Japanese prisoner of war work camp during World War II. The camp was initially used for the construction of the bridge over the Khwae Yai or Mae Klong River and not the River Kwai. The camp was located about five kilometres from the city of Kanchanaburi. In November 1943, Tamarkan was turned into a convalescent camp and hospital. By 1945, the camp was gone. The bridge was made famous by the 1957 film, ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'', which was a fictitious and inaccurate account. Inaccuracies include the identification of the wrong river, construction was not in the jungle, but near a city, two bridges had been built, which were destroyed at the end of World War II, and commander Philip Toosey did not collaborate with the Japanese. History In 1939, plans had been developed by the Empire of Japan to construct a rail road connecting Thailand with Burma. Construction of the Burma Railway started on 16 September 1942. On 26 October 1942, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Cutting
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road transport. It is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed.Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains. Power is usually provided by diesel or electric locomotives. While railway transport is capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or animal power have existed since antiquity, but modern rail transport began with the invention of the steam locomotive in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (known locally as the Don-Rak War Cemetery) is the main prisoner of war (POW) cemetery for victims of Japanese imprisonment while building the Burma Railway. It is on the main road, Saeng Chuto Road, through the town of Kanchanaburi, Thailand, adjacent to an older Chinese cemetery. The cemetery contains 6,982 graves of British, Australian and Dutch prisoners of war, of whom 6,858 have been identified. History The cemetery was designed by Colin St Clair Oakes and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It is located near the former prisoner of war base camp of Kanchanaburi. There are 6,858 POWs buried there, mostly British, Australian, and Dutch. It contains the remains of prisoners buried beside the south section of the railway from Bangkok to Nieke ( Niki Niki), excepting those identified as Americans, whose remains were repatriated. There are 1,896 Dutch war graves, 5,085 Commonwealth graves and one non-war grave. Two graves con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
