It formed part of the Netherlands East Indies and was ruled by the Dutch through the Sultanate of Ternate. Prior to the outbreak of war, Morotai had a population of 9,000 and had not been commercially developed. The Doroeba Plain in Morotai's south-west corner is the largest of the island's few lowland areas. Most of the island's interior is rugged and covered in thick jungle. Morotai is a small island located in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands. The island's base facilities were further expanded in 1945 to support the Australian-led Borneo Campaign, and Morotai remained an important logistical hub and command center until the Dutch reestablished their colonial rule in the NEI.Īllied operations and major Japanese garrisons in the Western Pacific between July and September 1944 Torpedo boats and aircraft based at Morotai also harassed Japanese positions in the NEI. These and other base facilities played an important role in the Liberation of the Philippines during 19. Morotai's development into an Allied base began shortly after the landing, and two major airfields were ready for use in October. Intermittent fighting continued until the end of the war, with the Japanese troops suffering heavy loss of life from disease and starvation.
Japanese reinforcements landed on the island between September and November, but lacked the supplies needed to effectively attack the Allied defensive perimeter. The invading forces greatly outnumbered the island's Japanese defenders and secured their objectives in two weeks. 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 Battle of Morotai, part of the Pacific War, began on 15 September 1944, and continued until the end of the war in August 1945.
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