Burma-Thailand Railway. Mess parade for prisoners of war (POWs) of the Japanese, at a camp on the ...

Burma-Thailand Railway. Mess parade for prisoners of war (POWs) of the Japanese, at a camp on the Burma-Thailand railway. In theory the Japanese ration scale for POWs on the railway included 680 grams of rice, 520 grams of vegetables and 110 grams of meat or fish per man per day. In practice, these figures were seldom achieved during the railway construction period of 1943. Those unable to work because of illness were reduced to half rations, a policy not implemented by POW camp commanders. The rations were equally shared, with the workers accepting a reduced scale. At one stage at the 105 kilometre camp in Burma, the rations were so short that meals consisted of rice and boiled chilli water. In Thailand, for the month of February 1943, Dunlop's O and P Battalions were entitled to 3,212 kilograms (kg) of meat and 18,000 kg of vegetables. They actually received 300 kg of meat and 4,500 kg of vegetables.