Songkurai
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name = Song Karia
| other_name = Songkurai
| native_name = ซองกาเรีย
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| settlement_type = Village
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| image_skyline = File:Burma Thailand Railway Songkurai Bridge Building 1943.jpg
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| image_caption = Bridge building at Camp Songkurai (1943)
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| pushpin_map = Thailand
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Thailand
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = Thailand
| subdivision_type1 = Province
| subdivision_name1 = Kanchanaburi
| subdivision_type2 = District
| subdivision_name2 = Sangkhla Buri
| subdivision_type3 = Tambon
| subdivision_name3 = Nong Lu
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| timezone = ICT
| utc_offset = +7
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| coordinates = {{coord|15.2167|98.4453|display=inline,title}}
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Ban Song Karia{{cite news|url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2249347/more-illegal-job-seekers-caught-on-western-border |title=More illegal job seekers caught on western border|website=Bangkok Post|access-date=31 January 2022}} ({{langx|th|บ้านซองกาเรีย}}), also spelled Songkalia ({{lang|th|ซองกาเลีย}}) and alternatively known as Songkurai (from {{langx|ja|ソンクライ}}), is a village in the Sangkhla Buri District of the Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand near the border with Myanmar at the Three Pagodas Pass. It was the location of three World War II Japanese Prisoner of War Camps located about {{convert|13|km}} south of the Thai/Burma border.{{cite web|url=https://www.pows-of-japan.net/articles/36.htm |title=Mates |author=Ken Gray|website=POWs of Japan|access-date=29 January 2022}}
Camp Songkurai
Songkurai was the location of three work camps. The first 393 Australian prisoners arrived on 25 May 1943. In August 1943,{{cite web|url=https://www.japansekrijgsgevangenkampen.nl/Sunkurai.htm |title=Sunkurai |website=Japanese Krijgsgevangenkampen|access-date=29 January 2022|language=nl}} the British 'F' Force consisting of 670 British and 1,020 Australian prisoners was concentrated at Songkurai.{{cite web|url=https://2nd4thmgb.com.au/camp/kami-songkurai-299k-thailand/ |title=Kami Sonkurai (Upper Sonkurai) No. 2 Camp 299.20 km Camp - Thailand |website=2/4th Machine Gun Battalion|access-date=29 January 2022}} The prisoners were tasked to create a 15 kilometre stretch of railroad including a wooden bridge over the Songkalia River (Huai Ro Khi).{{cite web|url=https://www.fepow.family/Articles/Death_Railway/html/songkurai.htm |title=Songkurai |website=Far East POW Family|access-date=29 January 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/burma-thailand-railway-and-hellfire-pass-1942-1943/locations/camps-f-force/songkurai-camp |title=Songkurai camp |website=Anzac Portal|access-date=31 January 2022}}
The prisoners were forced to work, under harsh conditions, on the construction of the Burma Railway. They suffered extreme hardship from poor rations, disease and brutal treatment. The bridge over the Songkalia River became known as the Bridge of 600, because 600 prisoners died during its construction. When the first POWs arrived, there was already a cholera outbreak at the Asian forced labourers camp. The outbreak was finally beaten in mid-June. On 10 August, cholera returned.
On 17 November 1943, the last prisoners left the camps which have now been taken over by the jungle.
Later history
After Japan's capitulation, the British Army removed about four kilometres of rail road track between Nikki (Ni Thea) and Songkurai because it was deemed unsafe.{{cite web| url=http://www.hellfirepass.com/historical_facts_hellfire_pass.html| title=Historical Fact on the Burma Death Railroad Thailand Hellfire pass Prisoners conditions| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118163648/http://www.hellfirepass.com/historical_facts_hellfire_pass.html| archive-date=18 January 2012}} First lieutenant Hiroshi Abe, the construction supervisor, was later convicted as a B/C class war criminal and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. He served 11 years.{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199697/cmhansrd/vo961204/debtext/61204-05.htm |title=Bound Volume Hansard - Debate |author=Tony Lloyd |website=House of Parliament - Commons Debate|date=4 December 1996|access-date=29 January 2022}}
A school has been built on a former camp site, and the river is now crossed by Highway 323 towards the border. The village is currently known as Ban Song Karia.
References
External links
- http://www.pows-of-japan.net/articles/36.htm
- http://www.wartimememories.co.uk/pow/songkurai.html
- http://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/Death_Railway/html/body_songkurai.htm
Category:Populated places in Kanchanaburi province