Ban Song Karia (), also spelled Songkalia () and alternatively known as Songkurai (from ), is a village in the

Sangkhla Buri District Sangkhla Buri (, , ,) is a district (''amphoe An amphoe (sometimes also ''amphur'', , )—usually translated as "district"—is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Groups of ''amphoe'' or districts make up the Provinces o ...

of the

Kanchanaburi Province Kanchanaburi (, ) is the largest of the western Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. The neighboring provinces are (clockwise, from the north) Tak province, Tak, Uthai Thani province, Uthai Thani, Suphan Buri province, Sup ...

, Thailand near the border with

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

at the

Three Pagodas Pass Three Pagodas Pass ( Phlone ; , ''Paya Thon Zu Taung Za Lang'', ; , , ) is a pass in the Tenasserim Hills on the border between Thailand and Myanmar (Burma), at an elevation of . The pass links the town of Sangkhla Buri in the north of Kanchanab ...

. It was the location of three World War II Japanese Prisoner of War Camps located about south of the Thai/Burma border.

Camp Songkurai

Songkurai was the location of three work camps. The first 393 Australian prisoners arrived on 25 May 1943. In August 1943, the British 'F' Force consisting of 670 British and 1,020 Australian prisoners was concentrated at Songkurai. The prisoners were tasked to create a 15 kilometre stretch of railroad including a wooden bridge over the Songkalia River (Huai Ro Khi). The prisoners were

forced ''Forced'' is a single-player and co-op action role-playing game developed by BetaDwarf, released in October 2013 for Windows, OS X and Linux through the Steam platform as well as Wii U. It is about gladiators fighting for their freedom in a fant ...

to work, under harsh conditions, on the construction of the

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 ...

. They suffered extreme hardship from poor rations, disease and brutal treatment. The bridge over the Songkalia River became known as the Bridge of 600, because 600 prisoners died during its construction. When the first POWs arrived, there was already a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

outbreak at the Asian forced labourers camp. The outbreak was finally beaten in mid-June. On 10 August, cholera returned. On 17 November 1943, the last prisoners left the camps which have now been taken over by the jungle.

Later history

After Japan's capitulation, the British Army removed about four kilometres of rail road track between Nikki (Ni Thea) and Songkurai because it was deemed unsafe. First lieutenant Hiroshi Abe, the construction supervisor, was later convicted as a B/C class war criminal and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. He served 11 years.{{cite web, url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199697/cmhansrd/vo961204/debtext/61204-05.htm , title=Bound Volume Hansard - Debate , author=

Tony Lloyd Sir Anthony Joseph Lloyd (25 February 1950 – 17 January 2024) was a British Labour politician. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) for 36 years, making him one of the longest-serving MPs in recent history. He served as MP for Stretfo ...

, website=House of Parliament - Commons Debate, date=4 December 1996, access-date=29 January 2022 A school has been built on a former camp site, and the river is now crossed by Highway 323 towards the border. The village is currently known as Ban Song Karia.

References

External links

* http://www.pows-of-japan.net/articles/36.htm * http://www.wartimememories.co.uk/pow/songkurai.html * http://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/Death_Railway/html/body_songkurai.htm Populated places in Kanchanaburi province Burma Railway World War II sites in Burma Japanese prisoner of war and internment camps