leading followers once said to me, "If the British sucked our blood, the Japanese ground our bones!" Change of sides During 1944, the BNA made contacts with other political groups inside Burma, such as the communists who had taken to the hills in the initial invasion. In August 1944, a popular front organisation called the Anti-Fascist Organisation (AFO) was formed with Thakin Soe, a founding member of the Communist Party of Burma, as leader. Through the communists, Aung San were eventually able to make contact with the British Force 136 in India. The initial contacts were always indirect. Force 136 was also able to make contacts with members of the BNA's Karen unit in Rangoon through agents dropped by parachute into the Karenni State, the Karen-populated area in the east of Burma. In December 1944, the AFO contacted the Allies indicating their readiness to launch a national uprising which would include the BNA. The situation was not immediately considered favourable by the British for a revolt by the BNA and there were internal disputes about supporting the BNA among them; the British had reservations over dealing with Aung San. In contrast to Force 136, Civil Affair officers of Lord Mountbatten in the South East Asia Command (SEAC) wanted him tried for war crimes, including a 1942 murder case in which he had personally executed a civilian, the Headman of Thebyugone village, in front of a large crowd. General William Slim later wrote: "I would accept [Aung San's] help and that of his army only on the clear understanding that it implied no recognition of any provisional government. ... The British Government had announced its intention to grant self-government to Burma within the British Commonwealth, and we had better limit our discussion to the best method of throwing the Japanese out of the country as the next step toward self-government." In late March 1945, the BNA paraded in Rangoon and marched out ostensibly to take part in the battles then raging in Central Burma. Instead, on 27 March, they openly declared war on the Japanese and rose up in a country-wide rebellion. BNA units were deployed all over the country under ten different regional commands (see table below). Those near the British front-lines around the Irrawaddy River requested arms and supplies from Allied units operating in this area. They also seized control of the civil institutions in most of the main