Category: General

FEATURING THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND EMBASSIES JOINTLY HOSTING HELLFIRE PASS ANZAC DAY COMMEMORATIVE SERVICES on  25th APRIL 2023

To commemorate those Australians and New Zealanders who have served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations, the Australian and New Zealand Embassies came together this year to jointly host the 2022 Anzac Day Commemorative Service at Hellfire Pass, Kanchanaburi.

The 2023 service which the Quiet Lion Tour will attend will be the second time a Hellfire Pass service has been held with the public in attendance after a two year break due to the COVID pandemic.

At the 2022 recommencement H.E. Mr Allan McKinnon PSM, Australian Ambassador to Thailand, reflected on the ceremony saying “Once again Australians and New Zealanders have been able to gather together in Thailand, here at the site of the Thai-Burma railway, in an act of remembrance to honour the service and sacrifice of those who have dedicated themselves to our nations. We recognise all of our current and former service men and women who have served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations and our allies who have served alongside them. Their proud legacy of mateship, endurance, courage and self-sacrifice lives on and inspires Australians of all generations. Lest we forget”

Ms Melissa Haydon-Clarke, Chargée d’ Affaires from the New Zealand Embassy to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, said “This year’s Anzac Day would be especially poignant in light of world events“

In the face of a manifest reminder of the appalling human cost of war, Anzac Day is an opportunity to honour the memory of all those who have sacrificed so much in pursuit of freedom, peace and justice by re-dedicating ourselves to those ends”.

On 25 April each year, Australians throughout the world commemorate Anzac Day, marking the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. It was on 25 April 1915 that Australian and New Zealand soldiers first landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in Turkey, as part of a larger Allied Force. Facing fierce resistance and near-impossible fighting conditions in battles that lasted for months, many did not return home.

Anzac Day is a time for all Australians to recognise the more than 1.5 million service men and women who have served our country in all conflicts, wars and peacekeeping operations. It’s also a time to remember the more than 102,000 Australians who sacrificed their lives in our country’s name. Lest we forget

The History of Hellfire Pass

Hellfire Pass is a small section of the Burma-Thailand railway, which was built by Australian and Allied POWs in horrific conditions.

The Pass actually consisted of several cuttings, embankments and bridges. Today, Konyu Cutting has proved to be the most accessible and so has become the focus of the Hellfire Pass Memorial Project, which commemorates the soldiers who toiled on this railroad during World War II.

The cuttings, embankments and bridges were necessary because of the steep rocky nature of the land, where the railway descends some 100 metres from the higher bench down the steep valley side to the next bench near the banks of the Kwai Noi River further north.

Construction of the Hellfire Pass cuttings began with a workforce of 400 prisoners. The Construction of the Hellfire Pass cuttings began with a workforce of 400 prisoners. The Konyu Cutting was started by British POWs in mid-October 1942. Australian POWs arrived in April 1943 and started work on Anzac Day 1943. By that time 27 British personnel had already died in the adjacent camp.

The excavation and manhandling of soil and solid rock for the cuttings, to a depth of 20 metres, was completed with the use of minimal equipment. An air compressor with three jackhammers was used, as well as 8-pound hammers, steel tap drills, dynamite, picks, shovels, wide hoes and small cane baskets.

The men laboured at Hellfire Pass under intense pressure from the Japanese engineers and Korean guards at the height of the wettest monsoon season for many years. From June 1943 until the work was completed in August 1943, the prisoners were forced to work 12 to 18 hour shifts each day. This frenetic pace, known as “speedo”, achieved its goal but cost many lives.

The POWs applied the name Hellfire Pass to the cuttings constructed during the hectic attempts to regain a failing schedule. This was achieved by the Japanese forcing the prisoners to work at night by the light of fires, which if viewed from above, gave the impression of the jaws of Hell. The POWs applied the name Hellfire Pass to the cuttings constructed during the hectic attempts to regain a failing schedule. This was achieved by the Japanese forcing the prisoners to work at night by the light of fires, which if viewed from above, gave the impression of the jaws of Hell. In May 1943 the section at Konyu Cutting was behind schedule and reinforcements arrived specifically to complete the section on time; this included additional Australian and British POWs, as well as over 1,500 Tamil labourers.

The men laboured at Hellfire Pass under intense pressure from the Japanese engineers and Korean guards at the height of the wettest monsoon season for many years. From June 1943 until the work was completed in August 1943, the prisoners were forced to work 12 to 18 hour shifts each day. This frenetic pace, known as “speedo”, achieved its goal but cost many lives.

The POWs applied the name Hellfire Pass to the cuttings constructed during the hectic attempts to regain a failing schedule. This was achieved by the Japanese forcing the prisoners to work at night by the light of fires, which if viewed from above, gave the impression of the jaws of Hell.

The POWs applied the name Hellfire Pass to the cuttings constructed during the hectic attempts to regain a failing schedule. This was achieved by the Japanese forcing the prisoners to work at night by the light of fires, which if viewed from above, gave the impression of the jaws of Hell.