This film was not released in the USA in cinemas because of legal reasons.
When this film was released in the United Kingdom, the movie carried a legal warning and disclaimer that it was not in any way related to or a sequel to the film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
This movie is not an official sequel to The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). It does supposedly follow-on from historical events as depicted in that film but the characters in both films are basically different.
Director Andrew V. McLaglen made another forgotten sequel to a popular WW2 war movie. His movie Breakthrough (1979) is an actual sequel to Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron (1977).
Brazil Maru was a 5,860-ton cargo ship, completed in 1919. Requisitioned by the Imperial Army (IJA) as a troop transport in October 1941. Just over 4 months after the events in this movie takes place, near the Inland Sea of Japan, the BRAZIL MARU strikes a mine about 1.5 miles off the Wada-misaki lighthouse and sinks near Kobe, Shikoku on May 25, 1945.