Tamarkan

Tamarkan (also: Tha Makhan[1]) was a Japanese prisoner of war work camp during World War II. The camp was initially used for the construction of the bridge over the Khwae Yai or Mae Klong River and not the River Kwai.[1] The camp was located about five kilometres from the city of Kanchanaburi.[2] In November 1943, Tamarkan was turned into a convalescent camp and hospital. By 1945, the camp was gone.

Tamarkan
Tha Makhan
Theatre hut at Tamarkan (1942 or 43)
Tamarkan is located in Thailand
Tamarkan
Location within Thailand
General information
Town or cityKanchanaburi, Kanchanaburi province
CountryThailand Thailand
Coordinates14.04101°N 99.50478°E / 14.04101; 99.50478
Construction started1942
Demolished1945

The bridge was made famous by the 1957 film, The Bridge on the River Kwai, which was a fictitious and inaccurate account.[3] Inaccuracies include the identification of the wrong river, construction was not in the jungle, but near a city, two bridges had been built, which were destroyed at the end of World War II, and commander Philip Toosey did not collaborate with the Japanese.[3][4][5]

History
Sketch of the construction of the stone bridge (1943)

In 1939, plans had been developed by the Empire of Japan to construct a rail road connecting Thailand with Burma. Construction of the Burma Railway started on 16 September 1942.[6] On 26 October 1942, British prisoners of war arrived at Tamarkan, 56 kilometres from the start of the railway, to construct a bridge over the Khwae Yai River. The wooden bridge was meant as a temporary bridge, and would be replaced by a concrete and steel bridge.[1] Even though the railway makes an apparent detour by crossing at Tamarkan instead of Kanchanaburi, the ground was more stable and there was less chance of flooding.[7]

The prisoners were commanded by Colonel Philip Toosey.[1] The camp consisted of five attap huts surrounding by a perimeter fence.[2] In February 1943, 1,000 Dutch prisoners of war commanded by Captain Hendrik Anthonie Tillema arrived, and five more huts were added. The Dutch were placed under the command of Toosey increasing the total amount of troops to about 2,000.[2][8] In January 1943,[2] there was a cholera outbreak in the nearby Malayan conscript labour camp.[9]

In March 1943, the wooden bridge was finished, and the first train crossed the bridge.[1][2] A bridge in Java had been dismantled, and the spans were transported to Tamarkan to construct a concrete and steel bridge.[10] In May 1943, the concrete and steel bridge was finished,[2] and the wooden bridge was redesignated for pedestrians and cars.[2] Most of the prisoners were moved to work camps further up the line.[11]

Operating theatre at Tamarkan (1943)

In November 1943, Tamarkan was turned into a convalescent camp and hospital.[2] Toosey was ordered to oversee the conversion. He was transferred to Camp Nong Pladuk in December 1943.[4] Tamarkan was not a proper hospital and the medical supplies were limited. The camp was home to about 1,500 men.[12]

On 29 November 1943, the camp was hit by allied bombs killing 18 prisoners and wounding 68.[1] Between December 1944 to June 1945, the bridges were attacked multiple times, and in February 1944, a span of the steel bridge was destroyed.[10] By October 1945, the camp was gone,[13] and only the Thayanusorn monument remained.[14] The monument was revealed on 21 March 1944, and made by POWs in honour of their fallen comerades.[15] After the war, the bridge was rebuilt.[16]

The condition of the prisoners in the camp were described as horrendous with emaciated and diseased prisoners dressed in rags,[17] There was a large graveyard near the camp.[8] 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.[18]

References
  1. "Tha Makhan". Far East POW Family. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  2. "Tamarkan, Tha Makham 56.20km - Thailand". 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion Ex Members Association. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  3. Tom Fordy (20 August 2020). "The lies that built The Bridge on the River Kwai". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  4. "Kanchanaburi". Gunplot. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  5. Julie Summers. "The Colonel Of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey And The Bridge On The River Kwai". Good Reads. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  6. "The Thailand-Burma Railway". PBS. 26 June 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  7. "8.1 The route chosen". US POWs Thai-Burma Railway. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  8. "Tamarkan". Japanse Krijsgevangenkampen (in Dutch). Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  9. Harchand Singh Bedi. "Forgotten Sikhs of the Siam -Burma Death Railway". Sikh Net. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  10. "Bridge on the River Kwai". Digger History. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  11. Sears Eldredge (2014). The Tamarkan Players Present: Tamarkan Convalescent Camp. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-615-57445-5.
  12. Arthur Moon (25 March 2019). "Records of life in a Japanese POW camp, buried in 1943". New South Wales State Library. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  13. Wim Kan (1986). Burmadagboek 1942-1945. Amsterdam: De Arbeiderspers. p. 247. ISBN 90-295-2500-2.
  14. "Een door de Japanners opgericht gedenkteken voor de slachtoffers van de bouw van de Birma-Siamspoorweg bij de spoorbrug van Tamarkan in Siam". University of Leiden (in Dutch). Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  15. "Takasaki Shinji and another". Singapore War Crimes Trials. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  16. "1.2 the REAL bridge". US POWs Thai-Burma Railway. 28 January 2022.
  17. Roydon Charles Cornford. "A true story". POWs of Japan. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  18. "Cemeteries". 2/29th Battalion A.I.F. Association. Retrieved 27 January 2022.

Bibliography
  • Julie Summers (2014). The Colonel Of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey And The Bridge On The River Kwai. Downtown Press. ISBN 9780743495738.
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