We arrived at Wampo South on the 2nd April 1943, marching from Tarki Len. One side of the river was a massive cliff face and on the other was flat, this is where the huts were erected. We found out the next day the Japanese planned to run the track along the face of this cliff, out job was to dig and blast a shelf to hold the track. We were ferried over the river to our task. At first the rocks were pushed and shoved over the edge into the river to come to rest along the riverside. We were soon put into pairs and given a hammer which could weigh 7, 10, 14lbs and a three foot long chisel. We also had a piece of long wire with a catherine wheel object on one end, the purpose of this instrument was to insert after hammering with the chisel and scooping out the rock dust from the hole which was made. The Japanese decided that as a pair we should drill three, one metre holes, into the limestone rock. The hole was then filled with dynamite and blown, this was dangerous work and the Japanese paid three times more then they did for a normal job. Balanced on a cliff face 80/100 feet above the river, one false step meant certain death.
At the end of a day the Japanese filled the holes with dynamite manufactured by ICI, brought to Thailand from the spoils of war taken at Java. We were ferried back across the river to collapse in our billets exhausted. A bugle then sounded and the Japanese started blasting, the cliff face erupted and rocks hurtled towards our camp, many men were injured and killed in the first day of explosions, the holes and been drilled wrong and forced the explosion outwards away from the rock face.
Next day we returned to the cliff face to remove the rocks, we now had elephants helping, they climbed the narrow paths with ease, almost looking dainty. Their tusks were placed under the large rocks and they pushed the rocks over the edge. We were also aware that their bowls would be relieved quite often so stayed clear of the back half.
The over hanging rocks were also a problem as they might fall, in the future, onto the railway track. Using long bamboo canes, about four inches wide in diameter, the Japanese made us construct a large frame, using the same inner bark strips as we did at Wun Lun to lash together the bamboo. Ropes were then attached to the frame, this was lowered to the offending rock with drillers on board. The rock was then drilled as before, not an easy job when the frame kept swaying. The next day, clearing rocks, seemed a much easier task, if in luck one could hide in one of the many caves in the cliff face to have a rest.
Giant trees were felled on the camp side of the river and taken to the sawmill, then taken across the river to start the construction of the bridge sections, on the top of concrete bases. The bridges were erected at eighteen foot high sections and when they were fifty-four feet high, ropes reached down from the top of the cliff and they were fastened to the bridge. A Japanese guard was killed when a rock fell, knocking him over the edge, he plunged to his death. We all received a beating as we were not sad to his loss.
To complete this section a way through the hill on the Bangkok side was dug out by hand and the soil and stones removed using stretches.
A guard asked the prisoners who could swim and picked three, making the way down to the bank the guard took a grenade out of his pouch and threw it into the river we were told to collect the stunned fish that floated on the surface. We received none of the fish the guard took them all.
The bridges and ledges were built by an estimated two thousand men and the work stretched for almost one third of a mile.
When finished, we were allowed a few days rest and the on the 26th April 1943 were moved to our next destination. For ten days we marched going through Tarsol, Kin Syuk, Camu, Rin Tin, Endato, arriving at Taconoon No.2 Camp on 6th May 1943.
Information from Unknown to the Emperor by J.R. Hill
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