Which British commander accepted Japan’s formal surrender in Singapore in 1945?

Lord Louis Mountbatten accepted Japan’s formal surrender in Singapore in 1945.

Mountbatten was the Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia Command. On 12 September 1945, he received the surrender of Japanese forces in the region at the Singapore Municipal Building. General Seishiro Itagaki signed on behalf of Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi, the Japanese commander for the region.

The Singapore ceremony followed Japan’s national surrender aboard USS Missouri ten days earlier. Local surrender ceremonies were necessary because Japanese forces remained scattered across a vast territory and had to transfer authority to regional Allied commanders.

Singapore had been occupied by Japan since its capture from British forces in February 1942. The occupation ended after the Japanese government announced surrender in August and the British returned. A temporary British military administration then governed Singapore until March 1946.