Japanese troops occupied Nauru on 25 August 1942. The Japanese built 2 airfield which were bombed for the first time on 25 March 1943, preventing food supplies from being flown to Nauru. The Japanese deported 1,200 Nauruans to work as labourers in the Chuuk Islands, which was also occupied by Japan. As part of the Allied strategy of island hopping from the Pacific islands towards the main islands of Japan, Nauru was bypassed and left to "wither on the vine". Nauru was finally liberated on 13 September 1945, when commander Hisayaki Soeda surrendered the island to the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Navy. The surrender was accepted by Brigadier J. R. Stevenson, who represented Lieutenant General Vernon Sturdee, the commander of the First Australian Army, aboard the warship HMAS ''Diamantina''. Arrangements were made to repatriate from Chuuk the 745 Nauruans who survived Japanese captivity there.  They were returned to Nauru by the BPC ship ''Trienza'' in January 1946.