protests from the Portuguese Government, an agreement was reached in which the Allied forces would withdraw from the Portuguese territory after the arriving of the Portuguese military reinforcements that were sent from Mozambique on board the aviso and the transport ship João Belo. In February 1942, when the Portuguese reinforcements were still en route, the Japanese used the pretext of the Australian and Dutch invasion to invade Portuguese Timor, catching the Allied forces by surprise and forcing them to withdraw to the mountains. This evolved to Battle of Timor, fought from 1942 to 1945. In 1943, following an evocation of the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 by the British Government, Portugal cede air facilities to the Royal Air Force in the Terceira Island, Azores. Latter, similar facilities were also ceded to the United States in Santa Maria Island. The facilities in the Azores would be crucial for the Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic and its global Victory in Europe. However, this Portuguese collaboration with the Allies increased the threat of a possible aggression from the Axis, forcing the Portuguese Navy to increase its efforts to deter any possible naval attack against Continental Portugal, the Azores and the other Portuguese islands in the North Atlantic. To address the need to defend the coast and the harbors of the Atlantic islands and Continental Portugal, the Portuguese fleet was reinforced with about 30 patrol boats and mine hunters, including newly built vessels and naval trawlers adapted from fishing vessels. Additionally, a number of naval trawlers were built in Portugal and transferred to the Royal Navy to aid the British war effort. The Navy built and commissioned a survey ship and the tanker Sam Brás, with this one being critical to ensure the wartime supply of fuel to Portugal. Naval Aviation was greatly reinforced, receiving more than 100 new aircraft and activating a naval strike unit equipped with land based Bristol Blenheim torpedo bombers, later replaced by Bristol Beaufighters. Besides the purely military missions, during the conflict, the Portuguese Navy performed a number of humanitarian missions, that included many maritime search and rescue operations. In this operations, it was able to save thousands of lives of survivors from vessels and aircraft sunk near the Portuguese waters. These included both warships and merchant vessels, from the Allies, the Axis and the Neutral countries. In one of these operations in January 1943, when returning