What was the U.S.-approved order that directed Japanese forces where to surrender after 1945?

General Order No. 1 was the U.S.-approved order that directed Japanese forces where to surrender after 1945.

The United States Joint Chiefs of Staff prepared the order, and President Harry Truman approved it on 17 August 1945. General Douglas MacArthur issued it after Japan’s surrender and it was distributed to Japanese Imperial General Headquarters on 2 September.

The order required Japanese forces to surrender to designated Allied commanders, disclose military deployments, and preserve equipment for disarmament. It also assigned surrender areas across Japan’s former military empire to different Allied powers.

One important provision divided responsibility in Korea at the 38th parallel. Japanese forces north of that line surrendered to Soviet commanders, while those south of it surrendered to U.S. commanders. The order therefore helped turn Japan’s announced surrender into an organized military capitulation across East Asia and the Pacific.