Camp Nong Pladuk

In 1939, plans had been developed by the Empire of Japan to construct a rail road connecting Thailand with Burma. Nong Pladuk was chosen as the starting point,[3] because it was the location of rail yard on the Southern Line to Bangkok. A camp was constructed to the north of the railway.[4]

On 23 June 1942, the first 600 British prisoners arrived from the First Mainland Party led by Major R.S. Sykes of the 18th Infantry Division.[5] The first groups were tasked to clear the forest, built the shelters, and a Japanese workshop.[1]

The barracks were made of wood with bamboo matting, and contained 200 to 300 prisoners each. There were originally six huts, a cook house with Chinese, British and Dutch canteens, a bamboo church, Japanese quarters and a guardroom.[6] The camp was originally built to house 2,000 prisoners, but was gradually enlarged for 8,000 prisoners.[7] On 16 September 1942, railway construction started at both ends of the planned line.[3]

Thai-Burma Railway. Nong Pladuk is on the bottom right

Camp Nong Pladuk was initially used as a transit camp from where the prisoners were transported or had to walk to work camps along the Burma Railway. Later Nong Pladuk was also used a revalidation camp.[2] The work camps were numbered according to the distance in kilometres from Nong Pladuk.[8]

During World War II, at least 23,289 British, 12,329 Dutch, 4,708 Australian, 482 American, and 7,030 undetermined soldiers passed through the camp.[5][9][10] Of the 61,811 prisoners deployed on both sides of the railway line, 12,619 died. Of the estimated 177,700 civilian forced laborers deployed, 85,400 died.[11]

In December 1943, a second camp was constructed at Nong Pladuk.[12] The British, Australian and American prisoners were housed in Camp I while Camp II was used for the Dutch prisoners.[7] The proximity to a large rail yard implied it was a target for allied bombers.[13] On 6 September 1944, the camp was hit by five bombs resulting in 92 deaths and 70 wounded. The camp closed on 22 February 1945.[12] Nowadays, the camp is used as a rail road maintenance and repair facility.[13]

There were two large cemeteries to the north-east of the camp.[4] After the war, the bodies were re-buried at the Chungkai and the Kanchanaburi War Cemeteries except for the Americans who were repatriated back to the United States.[14]