However, he did not hesitate. Quite simply, he agreed to supply General Slim’s Fourteenth Army from the air throughout its advance on Rangoon. It was an immense undertaking, calling for the greatest supply operation of the war. Park’s aircraft would sustain an army of more than 300,000 men, fighting in a country mostly unsuitable for aerial operations. But Park agreed to carry nearly 1,900 tons of supplies every day from 20 March and a little over 2,000 tons every day from 1 April. If the Japanese could be beaten in the central Burmese plains around Mandalay in a short campaign, the port of
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