General Seishirō Itagaki formally surrendered Singapore to Louis Mountbatten on September 12, 1945. The ceremony took place at Singapore’s Municipal Building after Japan’s wider surrender.
Itagaki commanded Japanese forces in Singapore and signed on behalf of Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi, commander of the Japanese Southern Army. Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander of Southeast Asia Command, accepted the regional surrender for the Allies.
The Singapore ceremony followed the arrival of Allied forces and preparations carried out under Operation Tiderace. The Japanese surrender in the region involved troops in Singapore, Malaya, and other parts of Southeast Asia. The event released thousands of Allied prisoners of war and ended the Japanese occupation of Singapore.
Itagaki later returned to Japan to face prosecution as a war criminal. He was convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and executed in 1948. This ceremony should not be confused with the September 2 surrender aboard USS Missouri, which formally ended Japan’s war against the Allied powers.