Japanese emissaries arrive at Mingaladon airfield near Rangoon, Burma, to begin preliminary negotiations for surrender of Japanese forces in south east Asia.

Group of senior officers including Air Vice Marshal Bouchier (commander of RAF 221 Group), Lieutenant-General Sir Montagu Stopford (commander of 12th Army), Major-General Tuker (commander IV Corps) , and Major-General George Symes (commander of South Burma District) awaiting arrival of Japanese delegates. A Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-57 'Topsy' transport aircraft taxiing with crowds of British and Indian personnel. Japanese emissaries alighting from the aircraft led by Lieutenant-General Takazo Numata, Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Count Terauchi, and Rear Admiral Kaigye Chudo. They both carry swords. Japanese airmen are escorted from their aircraft. Numata salutes Symes. The delegation is escorted through the crowd by armed guards. The crowd examines the Japanese aircraft; their distinctive 'hinomaru' or red sun emblem has had a green cross superimposed to aid identification. Aerial view of the Japanese aircraft in flight escorted by Spitfires of RAF 273 Squadron. View of the airfield at Mingaladon. Interior shots; delegates escorted into a hall. Men, probably journalists, at work on typewriters.

Notes

Historical context: Japan lost the last of her armies in Burma in July 1945. Increasingly intense conventional bombing by the United States caused massive loss of life and wrecked war industries before culminating in atomic attacks on 6 August 1945 and 9 August 1945. In the same period the Soviet Union declared war and invaded Japanese-occupied Manchuria. The Japanese government surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945.

Formal Japanese surrender in south east Asia would not be occur until 12 September 1945 in Singapore. The agreement signed in Rangoon was a preliminary step ordering local Japanese commanders to obey the instructions of British occupation forces. This facilitated the recovery of Allied prisoners of war and internees, a process known as RAPWI.

As this event was filmed by several cameramen, some of the scenes above are repeated from various angles.

This occasion recorded in still photographs referenced below.