At a meeting to solve the problem of command, Stilwell, under intense pressure from the Admiral Lord Mountbatten, Supreme Commander of SEAC, astonished everyone by saying "I am prepared to come under General Slim's [officer commanding Fourteenth Army] operational control until I get to Kamaing".
Once Stilwell's forces reached Kamaing on May 20, 1944, this arrangement ceased and Stilwell took orders only from Mountbatten, who lacked the staff (and experience) necessary to act as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Land Forces.