After Rangoon fell to the Japanese on March 7, heavy bombers, such as RAF and American Tenth Air Force B-24s, based in India and China attacked Thailand. The raids were carried out because Bangkok was a command centre for the Japanese on the South East Asian front. RAF and USAAF bombers carried out these raids as part of the Pacific campaigns. The bombers targeted installations useful to the occupying Japanese military, but the raids were also intended to pressure the government of Thai military strongman Plaek Pibulsongkram to abandon his alliance with Imperial Japan. The major targets were the newly completed Port of Bangkok and the Thai railway system. Raids by RAF, USAAF, and other Allied air forces continued with growing intensity from India and, after the liberation of Rangoon on May