Death Railway by Evers, Cornelis - 1993

Bsngkok: Craftsman Press, 1993. A stirring personal account of a Dutch soldier's internment by the Japanese in WWII and his subsequent assignment to the Allied slave labour gangs who constructed the infamous Burma Railway and the bridge at the River Kwai. Dubbed the 'Railway of Death' due to the horrific mortality rate of those assigned to perform the construction with little more than their bare hands (an estimated 90,000 deaths in 16 months), survival alone was a major accomplishment. Quickly learning to speak Japanese, the author acted as a POW interpreter during his imprisonment, allowing him to gain unique insights into the tragedy, from the points of view of both his fellow prisoners as well as of his Japanese captors. Following the end of the war, Evers was active in the Allied War Crimes Commission, a position in which he once again had to relive the entire ordeal. A new and insightful account of one of the most senseless acts of barbarity perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial… Read More