<P> This bridge was immortalized by Pierre Boulle in his book and the film which was based on it, The Bridge on the River Kwai . However, there are many who point out that both Boulle's story and the film which was adapted from it were utterly unrealistic and do not show how bad and poor the conditions and general treatment of the Japanese - held prisoners - of - war (POWs) were . On the part of the Japanese, many resented the movie's depiction that their engineers' capabilities were inferior and less advanced to those of their British counterparts . In fact, Japanese engineers had already been surveying and planning the route of the railway line since 1937 and they were also highly organized and skilled . The Japanese also accused the film of what they regarded as the "glorification of the superiority of Western civilization" because the British POWs in the film were able to construct a bridge that the Japanese engineers and troops could not . </P> <P> In an interview made by former POW John Coast, which formed a part of the BBC2 documentary Return to the River Kwai in 1969, Boulle outlined the reasoning which led him to conceive the movie character of Lt. Col' . Nicholson, who in the film works to build the fictional bridge and ultimately tries to prevent its destruction by Allied troops . A transcript of the interview and the documentary as a whole can be found in the new edition of John Coast's book, Railroad of Death . The first wooden railroad bridge over the Khwae Yai was finished in February 1943, which was soon accompanied by a more - modern concrete - and - steel railroad bridge (made up of eleven curved - truss bridge spans which the Japanese builders brought over from Java in the Dutch East Indies in 1942, which by then was under Japanese occupation, as was much of Southeast Asia; this is also the bridge that still remains to this day and has become iconic around the world) in June 1943, with both running in a NNE--SSW direction across the river . It was this Bridge 277 that was meant to be attacked with the help of one of the world's first examples of a precision - guided munition, which was the American VB - 1 AZON MCLOS - guided 1,000 lb aerial ordnance on 23 January 1945 but bad weather prompted the cancellation of the mission and the AZON was never deployed against the bridge . </P> <P> According to Thai - based Hellfire Tours, the "two bridges were successfully bombed and damaged on 13 February of 1945 by bomber aircraft from the Royal Air Force (RAF). Repairs were carried out by forced labour of POWs shortly after and by April the wooden railroad trestle bridge was back in operation . On 3 April a second bombing raid, this time by Liberator heavy bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), damaged the wooden railroad bridge once again . Repair work soon commenced afterwards and continued again and both bridges were operational again by the end of May . A second air - raid by the RAF on 24 June finally severely damaged and destroyed the railroad bridges and put the entire railway line out of commission for the rest of the war until the Japanese surrender in August . After Japan's capitulation, the British Army removed about 3.9 kilometers of the original Japanese railroad track on the Thai--Burma border . A survey of the track had shown that its poor construction would not support commercial railroad traffic . The recovered tracks were subsequently sold to Thai Railways and the 130 km Ban Pong--Nam Tok section of railway was relaid and is still in use up to today ." </P> <P> The new railway line did not fully connect with the Burmese railroad network as no railroad bridges were built which crossed the river between Moulmein Martaban (the former on the river's southern bank and the latter to the opposite on the northern bank). Thus, ferries were needed as an alternative connecting system . A bridge was not built until the Thanlwin Bridge (carrying both regular road and railroad traffic) was constructed between 2000 and 2005 . </P>

Who bombed the bridge over the river kwai