Following the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, the "Penang Shimbun", a Japanese newspaper, published the proclamation of surrender issued by the Emperor of Japan. Under Operation Jurist, a British Royal Navy fleet accepted the surrender of the Japanese garrison in Penang on 2 September 1945. A British Royal Marines contingent recaptured Penang Island on the following day, making George Town the first city in Malaya to be liberated at the end of the war.