![]() ![]() Rather than start at both ends and meet in the middle, the Japanese made full use of their enormous workforce by setting up more than 100 camps along the route and building sections of the line simultaneously.Ĭonditions in the camps were horrendous, particularly at the more remote sites where resupply of food, equipment and medical supplies was difficult. The railway took 12 months to build, with final completion on 16 October 1943. Meanwhile, the Japanese defeated Australian units on Java, New Britain, Timor and Ambon, bringing the total number of Australians captured to 22,000.įour prisoners of war with beri-beri, Nam Tok, 1943 By 15 February the Japanese had taken Singapore, capturing 130,000 Allied personnel, including 15,000 Australian soldiers. The same day, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded the Malay Peninsula (though it was 8 December there, owing to the International Date Line). On 7 December 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, followed swiftly by attacks on other US and British strategic points around the Asia–Pacific region. In February 1941 with the threat of an impending war with Japan, Australia dispatched part of the newly formed 8th Division to Singapore and Malaya to reinforce British troops. Prisoners of war carrying railway sleepers in BurmaĪt the start of the Second World War, Australia deployed most of its armed forces to help Britain fight the Germans and Italians in Europe and North Africa. ![]()
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