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Back Railroad of Death
Chapters (40)
  1. FOREWORD
  2. RAILROAD OF DEATH
  3. REFERENCE LIST:
  4. Railroad of Death
  5. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION (1948)
  6. INTRODUCTION
  7. PART ONE: SINGAPORE
  8. CHAPTER 1
  9. CHAPTER 2
  10. CHAPTER 3
  11. CHAPTER 4
  12. CHAPTER 5
  13. PART TWO: RAILROAD OF DEATH
  14. CHAPTER 6
  15. CHAPTER 7
  16. CHAPTER 8
  17. CHAPTER 9
  18. CHAPTER 10
  19. CHAPTER 11
  20. CHAPTER 12
  21. CHAPTER 13
  22. PART THREE: BASE CAMPS AND LIBERATION
  23. CHAPTER 14
  24. CHAPTER 15
  25. CHAPTER 16
  26. CHAPTER 17
  27. CHAPTER 18
  28. CHAPTER 19
  29. CHAPTER 20
  30. APPENDIX ONE:
  31. APPENDIX TWO:
  32. APPENDIX THREE:
  33. APPENDIX FOUR:
  34. APPENDIX FIVE:
  35. APPENDIX SIX:
  36. APPENDIX SEVEN:
  37. APPENDIX EIGHT:
  38. APPENDIX NINE:
  39. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  40. And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder

Editor’s Note

Many sources have been used to help decipher the names, some of which are listed here. The dedication page for Railroad also made it easy to decode the names of the people who John obviously wanted to be known to the readers in 1946. Full bibliographical references can be found at the end of the introduction unless the source has only been used here in which case a full reference is given.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Laura Rosenberg for her tireless support and allowing access to the John Coast archive.

Dr Laura Noszlopy for writing the incisive introduction and being a good research partner.

Dr Nigel Stanley for his endeavours in finding the real names of the doctors in Railroad of Death.

Felix Bakker and Lody Pieters for their help with finding some of the real names of the Dutch and Eurasian Prisoners in Railroad of Death.

Stephen Walton at the Imperial War Museum for his interest and excellent support provided when asked to look at relevant manuscripts and provide clearances.

Jessica Hogg at the BBC Written Archives centre for her patience in finding documents relating to Return to the River Kwai and in obtaining clearances for use in the introduction/ the documentary script.

Pamela Nash for her hard work in word processing the original 1946 edition, the ‘Return to the River Kwai’ article and most of the documentary script.

Kate Nash for her technical assistance.

Justin Nash, May 2014

Coming soon from Myrmidon . . .

And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder

Leo Rawlings

‘I apologise to the Other Ranks. They had a worse time than the Officers and I very much hope that some of them will write a history from their viewpoint . . . ’

John Coast, Railroad of Death

Leo Rawlings (1918–1990) was a private in the 137th Field Regiment Royal Artillery. A budding artist living in Blackpool his life was changed forever by the war. Fighting from December 1941 to February 1942 as part of the headlong British retreat eventually leading to defeat in Singapore, he chronicled in pictures and words the campaign and the events that followed from 1941–1945. He drew what he witnessed around him, leading him to be unofficially commissioned after his capture to keep a visual record of the prisoners’ lives. At first publication in 1972 And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder received support from Earl Mountbatten, former Supreme Commander of British forces in the Far East.

The new edition includes pictures never before published as well as an extensive and revelatory new commentary on Rawlings’ experiences and their subject matter by Dr Nigel Stanley, an expert on Rawlings and the medical problems faced on the Thai-Burma Railway.