Where did Japan’s forces in Southeast Asia sign their regional surrender in September 1945?

Japan’s forces in Southeast Asia signed their regional surrender at Singapore City Hall in September 1945.

The ceremony took place on 12 September 1945 at Singapore’s Municipal Building, now known as City Hall. Lord Louis Mountbatten received the surrender on behalf of the Allied South East Asia Command from General Seishiro Itagaki, who represented Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi’s Japanese Southern Army Group.

This was a regional surrender ceremony, not the global signing aboard USS Missouri. Japanese forces throughout Southeast Asia had to surrender locally because the region contained large military formations and extensive occupied territory.

Singapore had been occupied by Japan since the British surrender there in February 1942. After the 1945 ceremony, British military administration returned, while Japanese troops were disarmed and used temporarily in security and labor roles.