Japanese savagery adds to death toll

26th June 1943: In the midst of the terrible ordeal of the Death Railway, sadistic Japanese guards add to the death toll among Allied POWS

Fit Parade for Work, Ronald Searle, 1943. The inscription on the back states “A certain number of men regardless of condition picked[?] out for heavy labour - 15 hrs at a stretch - Be Beri - malaria - [illeg] exhaustion - ulcers - exhaustion - dystentery - quite [illeg]. Death frequently occurred at work. RS”

In Burma and Thailand the prisoners of war of the Japanese were engaged in the hard labour of building the railway that would give Japan access to India. They worked in literally murderous conditions. Recently cholera had emerged as an additional threat. But the barbaric behaviour of some Japanese guards was a further danger.