Author(s): Robin Rowland

Second World War

More prisoners of war died at Sonkrai than any other camp on the infamous River Kwai Railway. "F Force"-- seven thousand Australian and British POWs -- was sent by the Japanese to build the toughest section of the railway in the mountains between Thailand and Burma. Three thousand died from slave labour, disease, starvation and exposure to the never-ending monsoon rain. Why did so many die? After the war, a military tribunal tried five Japanese and two Koreans for those deaths. The account of the trial tells for the first time the story of F Force from all sides -- Australian, British and Japanese -- from the lowest private to the lieutenant colonels in command. The testimony, verdict, and the surprise sentence shed new light on what really happened on the Railway of Death.A River Kwai Story is not just a tale of the Second World War. The same issues are found in today's headlines, as military tribunals try alleged terrorists. If it was wrong to keep prisoners in inhumane conditions then, why are some in government today saying the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the war on terror?