The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a 415 km (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma. It was built from 1940 to 1943 by South East Asian civilians abducted and forced to work by the Japanese and a smaller group of captured Allied soldiers, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. The name used by the Japanese Government was Tai–Men Rensetsu Tetsudō (泰緬連接鉄道), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway.
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth-largest island in Papua New Guinea, with an area of 2,100 km2 (810 sq mi), measuring around 100 km × 30 km. Manus Island is covered in rugged jungles which can be broadly described as lowland tropical rain forest. The highest point on Manus Island is Mt. Dremsel, 718 metres (2,356 ft) above sea level at the centre of the south coast. Manus Island is volcanic in origin and probably broke through the ocean's surface in the late Miocene, 8 to 10 million years ago. The substrate of the island is either directly volcanic or from uplifted coral limestone.
The 8th Division was an infantry division of the Australian Army, formed during World War II as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force. The 8th Division was raised from volunteers for overseas service from July 1940 onwards. Consisting of three infantry brigades, the intention had been to deploy the division to the Middle East to join the other Australian divisions, but as war with Japan loomed in 1941, the division was divided into four separate forces, which were deployed in different parts of the Asia-Pacific region. All of these formations were destroyed as fighting forces by the end of February 1942 during the fighting for Singapore, and in Rabaul, Ambon, and Timor. Most members of the division became prisoners of war, waiting until the war ended in late 1945 to be liberated. One in three died in captivity.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Groves Wright Anderson was a South African-born Australian soldier, farmer, and politician. He was a recipient of the Victoria Cross and a member of the Australian House of Representatives.
The fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore, took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Japanese Empire captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. Singapore was the foremost British military base and economic port in South–East Asia and had been of great importance to British interwar defence strategy. The capture of Singapore resulted in the largest British surrender in its history.
Parit Sulong is a small town in Batu Pahat District, Johor, Malaysia on the Simpang Kiri River, 30 km (19 mi) east of Muar. The historical Parit Sulong Bridge constructed during World War II is a main feature in that town. Parit Sulong sits approximately 18 km (11 mi) from Bandar Penggaram, Batu Pahat, capital of Batu Pahat district.
The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the Malay Operation, was a military campaign fought by Allied and Axis forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. It was dominated by land battles between British Commonwealth army units and the Imperial Japanese Army, with minor skirmishes at the beginning of the campaign between British Commonwealth and Royal Thai Police. The Japanese had air and naval supremacy from the opening days of the campaign. For the British, Indian, Australian, and Malayan forces defending the colony, the campaign was a total disaster.
Gemas is a small town and a mukim in Tampin District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, near the Negeri Sembilan-Johor state border. It is situated 101 km northeast of Seremban, the state capital city, and 32 km north of Segamat, Johor.
Malaya, then under British administration, was gradually occupied by Japanese forces between 8 December 1941 and the Allied surrender at Singapore on 15 February 1942. The Japanese remained in occupation until their surrender to the Allies in 1945. The first Japanese garrison in Malaya to lay down their arms was in Penang on 2 September 1945 aboard HMS Nelson.
Gemencheh is a mukim in Tampin District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The Gemencheh Bridge is famous for being ground for the Battle of Gemas during the Second World War between Japanese and Australian forces. It is also well known for the production of maman, which is a type of edible leaves that takes two to three hours to cook for the leaves to become crispy and the gravy to dry up, resulting in a rich, flavourful traditional leafy maman rendang.
Takuma Nishimura was a Japanese army general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, active in the invasion and occupation of British Malaya. After the Japanese surrender, he was tried and convicted in British Singapore as a war criminal for his role in the Sook Ching massacres. After four years imprisonment he was handed to Australian authorities for trial on the Parit Sulong Massacre and executed by hanging by the then Australian Territory of Papua and New Guinea.
The Battle of Muar was the last major battle of the Malayan Campaign during the Second World War. It took place from 14–22 January 1942 around Gemensah Bridge and on the Muar River. After the British defeat at Slim River, General Archibald Wavell, commander of ABDA, decided that Lieutenant General Lewis Heath's III Indian Corps should withdraw 240 kilometres (150 mi) south into the State of Johore to rest and regroup, while the 8th Australian Division would attempt to stop the Japanese advance.
The 27th Brigade was a brigade-sized infantry unit of the Australian Army. The brigade was the last Second Australian Imperial Force infantry brigade raised for service during World War II. Initially assigned to the 9th Division, the brigade was transferred to the 8th Division shortly after it was raised. Training was undertaken around Bathurst, New South Wales throughout early 1941, before the brigade was sent to British Malaya in August 1941 to reinforce the 22nd Brigade, which had been dispatched earlier in the year. Following the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the brigade went into action in January 1942, taking part in the fighting along the western side of the Malay Peninsula. Its main action during this period came around Muar before the withdrawal to Singapore. In February, the brigade took part in the short lived Battle of Singapore. When the garrison surrendered on 15 February, the majority of the brigade's personnel were taken prisoner. They subsequently spent the remainder of the war in captivity before being released in August 1945.
During World War II, it was estimated that between 35,000 and 50,000 members of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces surrendered to Allied servicemembers prior to the end of World War II in Asia in August 1945. Also, Soviet troops seized and imprisoned more than half a million Japanese troops and civilians in China and other places. The number of Japanese soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who surrendered was limited by the Japanese military indoctrinating its personnel to fight to the death, Allied combat personnel often being unwilling to take prisoners, and many Japanese soldiers believing that those who surrendered would be killed by their captors.
James Gowing Godwin was a pilot of the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War, who subsequently became a prisoner of war. After the end of the war, as a captain in the Australian Army, he became an investigator with the Second Australian War Crimes Section in Tokyo in July 1947 and developed the case against Lieutenant General Takuma Nishimura, the senior perpetrator of the Parit Sulong Massacre. He subsequently worked for the First Australian War Crimes Section, based in Singapore, then worked for the British colonial service. He died in Sydney at the age of 72.
The 2/29th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army, which served during the Second World War. Formed in October 1940, the battalion served in Malaya as part of the 27th Brigade, which was assigned to the 8th Division. Recruited mainly from volunteers drawn from the state of Victoria, after completing its training around Bonegilla and then Bathurst, the 2/29th Battalion was sent to Malaya in August 1941 along with the rest of the 27th Brigade to bolster the Australian force there and subsequently fought in the Malayan Campaign following the Japanese attack in December 1941. The battalion fought several delaying actions along the west coast, including fighting around Bakri and Muar, and in Johore, before Allied forces withdrew across the Causeway to Singapore. The battalion later took part in the defence of Singapore in February 1942, but was captured after the garrison capitulated on 15 February. They spent the remainder of the war as prisoners of war, with many dying in captivity.
Before the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, the island of Borneo was divided into five territories. Four of the territories were in the north and under British control – Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, an island, and British North Borneo; while the remainder, and bulk, of the island, was under the jurisdiction of the Dutch East Indies.
The 2/19th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army, which was raised for service during the Second World War as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force. After being formed in mid-1940, the battalion was allocated to the 22nd Brigade, which was part of the 8th Division. After completing training in Australia, in early 1941 the 2/19th deployed to Malaya, as part of the Australian force despatched to help bolster the British garrison there as tensions with Japan heightened. Following the commencement of hostilities against Japan, the 2/19th fought several actions in Johore, before withdrawing across the Causeway to Singapore. There, the battalion was involved in the Battle of Singapore in early February 1942, during which it suffered heavy casualties before being captured following the capitulation of the British garrison. The battalion's personnel subsequently spent the next three-and-a-half years as prisoners of war, before being released at the end of the conflict.
Lynette Ramsay Silver, is an Australian historian and author. She has written a number of books dealing with Australian and military history.
Lieutenant Colonel Reginald William James Newton, was an Australian Army officer noted for his leadership while in Japanese prisoner of war camps during the Second World War. He became well known among Australian military circles, where he was affectionately known as "Roaring Reggie."
