Yet the Allies could not know that the Japanese had their own plans: its leaders had made the extraordinary decision to launch a major assault into the Chinese mainland at the same time as a major campaign in Burma. In the autumn of 1943 the Imperial General Headquarters had looked at the increasingly perilous position in Asia. As the Americans advanced in the Pacific, it became clear that the initial Japanese gains of early 1942 were vulnerable. By the spring of 1944 Allied assaults had forced Tokyo to regroup its forces to protect at least some of its empire in the Central Pacific.
