ACROSS THE THREE PAGODAS PASS
THE STORY OF THE THAIBURMA RAILWAY
This is a translation of the only known detailed account of the building of the notorious 262-mile long Thai-Burma Railway by one of the Japanese professional engineers who was involved in its construction. The author, Yoshihiko Futamatsu, who was in his early thirties at the time he was supervising the building of the Railway, provides an invaluable new source of historical and technical reference that complements the existing large body of literature in English on this subject. Futamatsu’s memoir also includes wide-ranging reflections on the course and conduct of ‘his’ war as well as his engineering and army experiences.
The Thai-Burma Railway took eighteen months to build and cost the lives of some 90,000 people (mostly British, Australian, Dutch and American POWs, as well as great numbers of local labourers) out of a total of over 200,000, including some 12-15,000 Japanese who were engaged in the enterprise. The ‘Three Pagodas Pass’ was located at the Thai-Burma frontier.
Across the Three Pagodas Pass is introduced by Peter Davies who sets the record straight regarding the story of this book and the key people involved. This is followed by translator Ewart Escritt’s original Introduction to his translation of Futamatsu’s memoir which also includes a detailed account of his own POW experiences as well as his reflections on the war and its outcomes. Many contemporary original drawings, maps and photographs appear in the plate section.
COVER ILLUSTRATIONS:
From left to right: The three pagodas in more recent times; drawing by POW William Wilder; Renichi Sugano on one of the first trains to run on the newly-constructed railway.
RENAISSANCE BOOKS
ISBN 978-1-898823-07-0
ACROSS THE THREE PAGODAS PASS:
THE STORY OF THE THAI-BURMA RAILWAY
POWs Laying sleepers along the Thai-Burma railway. Drawing by Ewart Escritt from a photograph by Lieut Ketsu Fujii
ACROSS
THE THREE PAGODAS PASS:
THE STORY OF THE
THAI-BURMA RAILWAY
by
YOSHIHIKO FUTAMATSU
TRANSLATED AND INTRODUCED BY EWART ESCRITT
EDITED WITH A FOREWORD BY PETER N. DAVIES
ACROSS THE THREE PAGODAS PASS: THE STORY OF THE THAI-BURMA RAILWAY
First published 2013 by
RENNAISANCE BOOKS
PO Box 219
Folkestone
Kent CT20 2WP
Renaissance Books is an imprint of Global Books Ltd
© Renaissance Books 2013
ISBN 978-1-898823-07-0
eISBN 978-1-898823-33-9
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library
| The publishers wish to acknowledge the kind support of The Great Britain-Sasakawa Foundation in the making of this book |
Set in Adobe Garamond Pro 11 on 12.5 pt by Dataworks
Printed in England by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall
I wish to dedicate this work
to the late Professor Yoshinori Suzuki of Kanagawa University
and his wife Minako.
Both have provided constant support and assistance
over many years for my research on Japanese topics
and I am most grateful for their kindness.
PETER N. DAVIES
CONTENTS