The Pakan Baru
Railroad was constructed during the
second World War by the
Japanese using forced labor. The railroad lies on the island of
Sumatra, then part of the former
Netherlands Indies (currently
Indonesia), which was occupied by the Japanese in March 1942.
Crossing the island of Sumatra between
Pakan Baru and
Muaro, the railroad was 220 km long and was built to avoid having to ship precious
resources (like
coal,
oil and
metals) necessary for the Japanese war effort through oceans controlled by the
allies.
Prior history
As early as the late 18
th century the idea for a
railway connecting the eastern and western coasts of the Sumatran
island occurred to the
Dutch authorities governing the Netherlands Indies. A number of valuable resources were found (and are still found) along the western coast of Sumatra. To facilitate transport of these resources Dutch engineers started the design of a railroad from Pakan Baru (already connected to the western coast city of
Padang) to Muaro, which was a completely insignificant collection of houses on the Siak River. Large enough ships could reach that far up the Siak River, however, so Muaro was chosen as the other
terminus for the railroad.
The Dutch design went through a number of deaths, resurrections and modifications until
history caught up with the unprepared defenders of the Dutch
colony in the first months of 1942. Japan defeated the poorly equipped (and poorly prepared) Dutch defenders - in some cases the Dutch were using
armaments dating back to before the
first World War - and eventually took up the
construction of the Sumatran railroad.
Only one of many Japanese projects
The Japanese put many hundreds of thousands of people to work on various projects throughout the
territories they occupied during the war. For a part these people were
prisoners of war, but the largest part consisted of tricked and coerced Asian locals. Projects included the building and repair of
air strips, military installations and railroads, like the
Burma-Siam Railroad (known mainly through the film
The Bridge on the River Kwai) and the Pakan Baru Railroad discussed here.
Manpower (or rather: slave-power) engaged at the Pakan Baru Railroad
At the Pakan Baru Railroad 30,000 local laborers, called
romushas, were used. Another 4,970 prisoners of war were put to work on the railroad. These two groups rarely, if ever, came into contact with each other, and both had distinct jobs in the construction of the railroad.
The romushas
Next update I will look into this...
Prisoners of war put to work on the railroad
The majority of the POW's that worked on the Pakan Baru Railroad were Dutch, only a few were English, Australian or American. The average age of the POW's was very high (my grandfather was 43 at the time he was sent to work on the Pakan Baru Railroad; the average age of the Dutch was 36 years, the average age of the other allies was 29 years
1), significantly higher, for example, than the average age of the POW's that were put to work on the Burma-Siam Railroad (I seem to recall an average age of 22 or something being mentioned somewhere, but I'm not exactly sure). These men were not in the
prime of their life, and the
malnutrition, lack of proper
medication and
adequate housing did not help.
The price paid
When the war ended, the
toll of the Pakan Baru Railroad was estimated to be about 700 deceased POW's and more than 25,000 deceased Asian romushas.
A related disaster occurred when the
Junyo Maru was torpedoed by the British submarine
H.M.S. Tradewind while transporting 6,500 POW's and romushas destined for the Pakan Baru Railroad, leaving 5,620 of them dead. The 880 that survived the ordeal were put to work on the railroad, only to leave many more of them dead by the end of the war.
The bitter part of it all...
As unbelievable as it sounds, the last nail was hammered into place during a small ceremony by a Japanese officer on the 15
th of August 1945, the day after the Japanese agreed to unconditional surrender after the two
atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. The railroad would never be used by the Japanese. In fact, the railroad was never used by anyone, in large part due to the fact that the construction was of exceptionally bad quality. The Japanese had not paid any attention to proper engineering of the railroad and subtle
sabotage by the POW's rendered the railroad even worse than its lack of design could have accomplished.
The end of imprisonment
As in many other POW camps in the Pacific area, the capitulation of the Japanese was not immediately known to the POW's. After the 15
th of August the prisoners do get the feeling they are being treated better and that the food rations increase. Rumours are rife, but the Japanese guards remain silent. Until the 24
th of August, when the announcement is made in most of the camps along the railroad that Japan has signed a cease fire with the allied forces. In reality Japan has signed an unconditional surrender following the two atom bombs dropped on Japanese soil.
Following the announcement of the surrender the situation of the POW's slowly gets better; no more work, more food, better medical attention. But the Japanese guards remain. The allied forces don't have enough troops to free the whole area that was occupied by the Japanese in one go.
The English and the Australians are
repatriated first. The
sick are transferred to
Singapore, and one by one the camps along the railroad are
vacated. On the 25
th of November 1945 the last of the POW's leave the camps.
. . ..... . .
1 This difference is probably due to the fact that the Dutch put to work on the railroad were colonials living in the Netherlands Indies at the time of the invasion by Japan who were hastily drafted into semi-military roles, whereas the other allies were regular soldiers sent to the area for the purpose of waging war against Japan
. . ..... . .
Sources:
http://home.t-online.de/home/Gueinzius/E/Pakan-Baru-t.htm
http://www.omen.net.au/~vanderkp/junyopg1.html
http://www.ax-pow.com/duffygeorge.htm
http://www.usmm.org/pow.html
Possibly more soon... In particular (possibly) excerpts from the account my grandfather wrote after being freed from the prison camps at the Pakan Baru Railroad.