At HQ Malaya Command in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya (Malaysia), Japanese General Itagaki and his senior officers surrender their swords to Lieutenant-General Frank Messervy.

Medium close-up of an unnamed British major-general with troops on parade in the background. Different angle showing the officer and the backs of two men he is speaking to, one of whom is a civilian. Medium close-up of an unnamed civilian man. Shot along a line of parked staff cars; camera pans to a building with a number of parked jeeps, one of which is marked 'CRIASC' or 'Commander Royal Indian Army Service Corps'. A staff car arrives; there is a Royal Air Force Air Commodore in the front seat and a civilian man gets out of the back. Escorted Japanese officers, led by General Itagaki, arrive at HQ Malaya Command. Each carries a sword. Medium close-up of Itagaki and Lieutenant-General Ayabe (his chief of staff). Lieutenant-General Messervy receives Itagaki's sword and salutes him. In front of Messervy is a table spread with a British Union flag and military policemen stand guard. Ayabe surrenders his sword (camera now side-on, with the table in centre of shot) to Brigadier C P Jones, Brigadier General Staff. Wide shot showing the line of now swordless Japanese officers. They are marched away; a crowd of spectators can be seen behind.

Notes

The cameraman, Sergeant Clark, appears to have only documented the latter portion of this film on his dopesheet, beginning with the arrival of Itagaki and his officers. The location and personalities seen in the opening section are therefore unclear, but the opening appears to have been shot at an airfield, and so is probably one of the two RAF stations near Kuala Lumpur. The Major-General appears to be wearing the patch of 5th Indian Division (Major-General Mansergh?).

Clark, speaking at a reunion held at the Imperial War Museum, recalled that this was his first film since he completed his training, and he was lambasted by more experienced cameramen for his use of a tripod.

Lieutenant-General Frank Messervy had been a divisional and corps commander in Burma and was General Officer Commanding Malaya. Itagaki was commander of Seventh Area Army (covering much of south east Asia) and had previously signed the Japanese surrender in Singapore in September 1945. The surrender of swords was considered necessary by British authorities as a step towards demilitarising Japan.