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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Sonkrai
Ban Song Karia (Thai: บ้านซองกาเรีย), also spelled Songkalia (ซองกาเลีย) and alternatively known as Songkurai (from Japanese: ソンクライ), is a village in the Sangkhla Buri District of the Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand near the border with Myanmar at the Three Pagodas Pass. It was the location of three World War II Japanese Prisoner of War Camps located about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) 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 to work, under harsh conditions, on the construction of the Burma Railway. 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 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.

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

  1. ^ "More illegal job seekers caught on western border". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  2. ^ Ken Gray. "Mates". POWs of Japan. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Kami Sonkurai (Upper Sonkurai) No. 2 Camp 299.20 km Camp - Thailand". 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Sunkurai". Japanese Krijgsgevangenkampen (in Dutch). Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Songkurai". Far East POW Family. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Songkurai camp". Anzac Portal. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Historical Fact on the Burma Death Railroad Thailand Hellfire pass Prisoners conditions". Archived from the original on 18 January 2012.
  8. ^ Tony Lloyd (4 December 1996). "Bound Volume Hansard - Debate". House of Parliament - Commons Debate. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
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