In 1943, General Joseph Stilwell requested the deployment of US Army special forces to support the Chinese Army regular forces under his command. General George Marshall authorised a "Long Range Penetration Force", recruited from US Army troops trained in jungle warfare in Panama and the continental United States, as well as personnel with recent combat experience in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea campaigns. The unit was formally named the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), but became famous as "Merrill's Marauders"; it carried out operations in Burma in 1944.