Original version

BBC World Service Online

Witness History

Podcasts

Factual: History

History as told by the people who were there

History as told by the people who were there.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Witness History: Surviving the "Death Railway"

Documentaries

News

Surviving the "Death Railway"

31/08/2018 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Surviving the "Death Railway"

A prisoner of war describes the deadly conditions building the bridge over the River Kwai

A former British prisoner of war describes the Japanese cruelty and neglect which led to thousands of deaths as captured soldiers built the "death railway" in World War Two.

During World War Two the Japanese forced prisoners of war to build a 400 kilometre railway from Thailand to Burma. Tens of thousands died during the construction and it became known as the "death railway". A former British prisoner of war, Cyril Doy, told Claire Bowes how he survived sickness, starvation and humiliation while building the famous railway bridge over the River Kwai.

(Photo: Allied Prisoners of War in a Japanese prison camp 1945 British Pathé)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Witness History

Surviving the "Death Railway"

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service