The Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC) was a corps within the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...

. Formed on 1 July 1903, in the aftermath of the Federation of Australia, it was initially known as the Australian Army Service Corps (AASC) and subsumed the functions that had been undertaken by various organisations within the colonial forces. In 1948, the Royal prefix was bestowed upon the corps. The corps served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, as part of the

British Commonwealth Occupation Force The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its peak, ...

in Japan,

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, Malayan Emergency and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. The RAASC was disbanded on 31 May 1973. After the disbanding of the corps, responsibilities for transport, air dispatch and postal functions were assigned to the newly formed

Royal Australian Corps of Transport The Royal Australian Corps of Transport (RACT) is a corps within the Australian Army. The RACT is ranked tenth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, and is the most senior logistics corps. It was formed on 1 June 1973 as an amalgam ...

(RACT) and responsibilities for foodstuffs and petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) were assigned to the

Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps (RAAOC) is the Corps within the Australian Army concerned with supply and administration, as well as the demolition and disposal of explosives and salvage of battle-damaged equipment. The Corps contains ...

(RAAOC).

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Royal Australian Army Service Corp Vietnam Veteran's AssociationPatches of the Army Service Corps
Service Ordnance (stores) units and formations Military units and formations established in 1903 Australian army units with royal patronage {{Australia-mil-stub