Aung San tried to establish a training school in Bhamo. His efforts were too late and interrupted by the Kempeitai. After the Japanese invasion of Burma the Japanese Commander of the 15th Army, Lieutenant-General Shōjirō Iida, recalled Suzuki to Japan. In its place the Japanese created civil organisations designed to guide Burma toward puppet state. the BIA was disarmed and disbanded on 24 July. Now the Burma Defence Army (BDA), placed under the command of Colonel Aung San with Bo Let Ya as Chief of Staff, lead by several Japanese commanders. An officers' training school was established in Mingaladon and the new force of 3,000 men were recruited and trained by Japanese instructors as regular army battalions instead of a guerrilla force during the second half of 1942. After the change in leadership, Aung Sun tried to push for what he considered the true mission of the army, which was not just a military group composed of the Thakins, but an army of "true patriots irrespective of political creed or race and dedicated to national independence".