Shortly before the outbreak of World War II Aung San fled Burma to escape arrest with the cooperation of the local Japanese consulate, though possibly with the intention of soliciting support from Chinese communists. Aung San left for Japan and later recruited a small core of Burmese revolutionaries known as the Thirty Comrades. During the Japanese occupation of Burma, he served as the minister of war in the Japan-backed State of Burma led by Dr. Ba Maw. As the tide turned against Japan, he switched sides and merged his forces with the Allies to fight against the Japanese. After World War II, he negotiated Burmese independence from Britain in the Aung San-Atlee agreement. He served as the 5th Premier of the British Crown Colony of Burma from 1946 to 1947. He led his party, the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, to victory in the 1947 Burmese general election, but he and most of his cabinet were assassinated shortly before the country became independent.