Tamuang (Tamuan), Thailand. c. 1945. A typical prisoner of war (POW) hut under construction at ...

Tamuang (Tamuan), Thailand. c. 1945. A typical prisoner of war (POW) hut under construction at the Tamuang camp thirty nine kilometres north of Nong Pladuk (also known as Non Pladuk), eleven kilometres south of Kanchanaburi, or 375 kilometres south of Thanbyuzayat. Note the G string or lap-lap on the POW in the centre of the photograph. These were worn to conserve their clothing, as virtually no clothing was issued by the Japanese to their prisoners. Tamuang served as a transit camp and hospital for POWs during the 1943 to 1945 period. Following the Japanese surrender, it became a temporary holding camp for Australian, British, Dutch and American recovered POW, who had been engaged in railway maintenance or the construction of Japanese defence positions in various locations in Burma or Thailand. Another recovered group had been part of the Wampo-Tavoy road construction work force. This group of 400 had been despatched from Tamuang in December 1944. Their work load was extremely demanding under very poor conditions. They suffered a thirteen per cent death rate. (Donor B. Theobald)