After the Communist-dominated Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 of 9 September and the simultaneous arrival of Soviet troops, the Bulgarian government declared war on Germany. Bulgarian armies attacked the German positions in Yugoslavia. An armistice was signed with the Allies in Moscow on 28 October 1944. After the Nazis fled Yugoslav territory, the Bulgarian Army continued its offensive in Hungary and Austria. Bulgaria's participation in World War II ended when its soldiers met British troops in Klagenfurt, Austria in May 1945. See French West Africa. Burma was separated from British India in 1937 as a Crown Colony with a constitutional government. The colony was important for sending supplies to China via the Burma Road, which was completed in 1938. Nevertheless, it was left lightly defended at the outbreak of World War II: the British considered it a backwater and unlikely target of attack. Japan began its conquest of Burma with small raids in December 1941, launching a full invasion the following January. Japan held most of the country by April and ceded the Shan states to its ally Thailand. Many Burmese hoped to gain support of the Japanese in expelling the British, so that Burma could become independent. Japan had already trained the Thirty Comrades, who now formed the nucleus of the Burma Independence Army. Japan declared the colony independent as the State of Burma on 1 August 1943. A puppet government led by Ba Maw was installed. However, many Burmese began to believe the Japanese had no intention of giving them real independence. Aung San and other nationalist leaders formed the Anti-Fascist Organisation in August 1944, which asked the United Kingdom to form a coalition with the other Allies against the Japanese. Allied forces launched offensives into Burma beginning in late 1944. They captured Rangoon following the Battle of Elephant Point in May 1945. Subsequently, negotiations began between the Burmese and the British for independence. Under Japanese occupation, 170,000 to 250,000 civilians died. See Ruanda-Urundi. See Indochina. See French Equatorial Africa. On 10 September 1939, Canada likewise declared war on Germany, the country's first independent declaration of war and the beginning of Canada's participation in the largest combined national effort in its history. Canada's military was active mainly in Italy, Northwestern Europe, and the North Atlantic. Over the course of the war, 1.1 million Canadians served in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Of these more than 45,000 lost their lives and another 54,000 were wounded.