Building the railway 'bund' (embankment)

Prisoners of war building the 'bund' (embankment) for the railway in the jungle at Kanyu in 1942, with rocks and earth, under supervision of Japanese engineers and Korean guards; possibly a Japanese engineer at left. The land around Kanyu and Hintock camps through which the Burma-Thailand Raliway was to be built included thick jungle, steep hills and cliffs, and many ravines and culverts. Work on the railway tracks was allocated by the Japanese according to task, with each group having a certain quota to meet in a set period. Prisoners were kept at work until the allotted task was completed, and this could mean shifts of up to eighteen hours or longer.