Over 200,000 workers were mobilized for the project in Guangxi and 30,000 in Guizhou. Over 2,000 workers died of disease and accidents. Work on the final section from Duyun to Guizhou was halted in 1944 with the Japanese Ichi-Go Offensive. In November 1944, the Japanese captured Liuzhou and proceeded to travel up the railway to attack southern Guizhou. The Chinese forces defending Mawei, Dushan and Duyun proceeded to destroy the railway and train cars. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Republican government began to repair the sections damaged by the war. The Chinese Civil War intervened and by 1949 only the Liuzhou-Jinchengjiang section had been restored.