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How many Allied prisoners of war were forced to work on the Burma Railway?

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Map showing the height of Japanese territorial expansion in 1942 during World War II, with a large hatched area covering much of East and Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, including parts of China, Korea, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and numerous Pacific islands. Japan's home islands are shaded in solid red, while the expansion area stretches from India and Burma in the west to the Aleut — Burma Railway In World War II Japanese military forces quickly took advantage of their success at Pearl Harbor to expand their holdings throughout the Pacific and westward toward India. This expansion continued relatively unchecked until mid-1942. Then, after losing the Battle of Midway, Japan was forced on the defensive.

During the construction of the Burma Railway, the Japanese forced more than 60,000 Allied prisoners of war to provide labor.1

This group of prisoners included approximately:
* 30,000 British troops
* 18,000 Dutch troops
* 13,000 Australians
* 700 Americans1

In addition to these Allied prisoners, the Japanese also forced approximately 200,000 Asian conscripts to work on the railway's construction. The project was characterized by inhumane conditions, including rampant disease, malnutrition, and brutal treatment, which resulted in the deaths of more than 12,000 Allied prisoners and tens of thousands of forced laborers.1