Fragment of wood from the bridge over the River Kwai, 1945 (c)

The bridge over the River Kwai was part of the notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war and Asian forced labourers. The Japanese constructed the line between October 1942 and December 1943 in order to support their army which was fighting in Burma. They used the railway until April 1945, when parts of the line, and the famous bridge, were destroyed in Allied air raids.