An effort was also made to defend the Portuguese overseas territories in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Although the naval and military assets were always few for such large number of territories, it was still possible to maintain the integrity of the great majority of them. The major exception being Portuguese Timor, which was occupied by Australian and Dutch forces in December 1941, allegedly to defend it against a possible Japanese invasion. After 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.