Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

World War 2, Indonesia Morotai, Australian Army Medical Women’s Service, 1945

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1945

Overview

Australian Army Nursing Service and Australian Army Medical Women’s Service staff in lifeboat on arrival at Morotai. During the war, members of the AANS served in England, Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Greece, Crete, Syria, Eritrea, Ceylon, Malaya, New Guinea, New Britain and the Solomon's. They also served throughout the length and breadth of Australia, at sea in hospital ships and sea ambulance transports, Borneo, the Philippines, Morotai and Japan.

Historical information

The Battle of Morotai, part of the Pacific War, began on 15 September 1944, and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. The fighting started when United States and Australian forces landed on the southwest corner of Morotai, a small island in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), which the Allies needed as a base to support the liberation of the Philippines later that year. The invading forces greatly outnumbered the island's Japanese defenders and secured their objectives in two weeks. Japanese reinforcements landed on the island between September and November, but lacked the supplies needed to effectively attack the Allied defensive perimeter. Intermittent fighting continued until the end of the war, with the Japanese troops suffering heavy loss of life from disease and starvation.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-P1996.388.1e

Item type

Photographs

Themes

War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 2

Year

1945

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Organisation Details
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