
More prisoners of war died at Sonkrai than any other camp on the infamous River Kwai Railway. The seven thousand Australian and British prisoners of war who comprised
F Force were sent by the Japanese to build the toughest section of the railway in the mountains between Thailand and Burma. More than three thousand people died from slave labour, disease, starvation and exposure to the never-ending monsoon rain.
In 1946 seven former guards from the infamous River Kwai camp were put on trial for their lives before a military tribunal in Singapore, charged with the deaths of more than three thousand people. The account of the trial tells for the first time the story of F Force from all sides-Australian, British and Japanese-from the lowest private to the lieutenant colonels in command. The testimony, verdict and the surprise sentence shed new light on what really happened on the Railway of Death.
Labels: Alberto Gonzales, Allen and Unwin, Australia, Burma Thailand Railway, F Force, publishing, Singapore, war crime, World War II
I'm a Toronto-based writer, photographer, web producer, television producer, journalist and teacher. I'm author of four books. The Garret tree is my blog on the writing life including my progress on my next book, A River Kwai Story: The Sonkrai Tribunal. My second blog, The Creative Guide to Research, has news, information and hints for both the online and the shoe-leather" researcher. My third, the Wampo, Nieke and Sonkrai follows the progress of my model railway based on my research on the Burma Thailand Railway.
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| A River Kwai Story The Sonkrai Tribunal |
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| The Garret Tree That tree can be seen outside the window of this garret. An original photograph, filtered by a Photo Shop plug-in called India Ink. |