In preparation for an invasion of India - Japan had a plan to build a railway.
The Japanese drew on two sources of labour. The largest group was made up of roughly 200,000 local men, women and children who were either forced or offered money to work on the railway. These people were mostly Burmese and Tamils from Malaya, but also Thais and Javanese, among others. The second group comprised Allied POWs, most of whom were British, Australian and Dutch soldiers. About 60,000 were sent to work on the railway; 13,000 of them were Australian. (National Museum of Australia)