Siege of Laha Airfield

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The Siege of Laha Airfield was a brutal World War II engagement on Ambon Island in early 1942, marked by fierce fighting between Japanese and Allied forces and followed by notorious massacres of captured Australian and Dutch troops.

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Label Occurrences
Siege of Laha Airfield canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf World War II battle
military siege
aftermath execution of Allied prisoners at Laha
airSupport Japanese naval aviation
attackingForce Japanese 228th Infantry Regiment
Japanese naval landing forces
belligerent Australian Army
Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Navy
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army
casualtiesDescription heavy Allied casualties
significant Japanese casualties
combatType infantry assault
siege warfare
commanderAttacking Colonel Kyoji Teshima
commanderDefending Lieutenant Colonel John Scott
commemoratedBy Australian war memorial accounts of the Battle of Ambon
conflict World War II
countryInvolved Australia
Imperial Japan
surface form: Empire of Japan

Netherlands
defendingForce Gull Force
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army garrison
endTime 1942-02-02
followedBy Laha massacre
groundType airfield defenses
historicalPeriod early 1942 Pacific campaigns
location Ambon Island
Dutch East Indies
Laha Airfield
present-day Indonesia
notableFor fierce close-quarters fighting
massacres of prisoners of war
objective capture of Laha Airfield
partOf Battle of Ambon
perpetratorOfMassacre Imperial Japanese Navy
surface form: Imperial Japanese Navy personnel
precededBy Japanese landings on Ambon
relatedEvent Dutch East Indies campaign
surface form: Battle of the Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies campaign
surface form: Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies
result Japanese victory
startTime 1942-01-30
strategicImportance control of air operations around Ambon
support for Japanese advance in the Dutch East Indies
theatre Pacific War
Southwest Pacific theatre of World War II
surface form: South West Pacific theatre
victimGroup Australian prisoners of war
Dutch prisoners of war
warCrimeClassification mass execution of prisoners of war

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Battle of Ambon hasPart Siege of Laha Airfield