This book looks at the guerilla operations carried out by Americans in the mountains of North Burma between 1943 and 1945. As the Japanese advanced into Burma from the south, they cut the Burma Road, a lifeline for the Chinese armies fighting the Japanese in China. Allies had to use cargo planes to fly supplies and equipment over the "Hump" of the Himalayas. On the ground, scattered and inadequate Allied troops were trying to contain the Japanese and push them back far enough to make building a new road possible. Among these troops were Merrill's Marauders, Wingate's Raiders, the Chinese forces under "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell and the 14th British Army.