page_title: Conrad Helfrich
section_title: Japanese surrender
hierarchical_section_title: Conrad Helfrich / World War II / Japanese surrender
caption_attribution_description: English: AWM caption:Tokyo Bay, Japan -- Surrender of Japanese aboard USS "Missiouri." Luitenant-Admiraal C.E.L. Helfrich, representing the Netherlands, signs the instrument of surrender. He is being watched by a compatriot and by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander, at the microphone.
context_page_description: Lieutenant Admiral Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich of the Royal Netherlands Navy was a leading Dutch naval figure of World War II. He was born in Semarang.
context_section_description: In 1945, he was given command of all Dutch naval forces and promoted to lieutenant admiral. On 2 September 1945, he signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri on behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
  Helfrich returned to the Dutch East Indies on 1 October 1945, where he commanded the Dutch forces in the Dutch East Indies until 24 January 1946 when the post of commander of the armed forces in the East was abolished. During that time, Commander Helfrich had to deal with the Indonesian struggle for independence. He was a fierce opponent of compromising with Sukarno and, supported by Chief of the General Staff Hendrik Johan Kruls, he objected to the Linggarjati Agreement of 15 December 1946, but without effect.
  He remained in command until his retirement from the navy on 1 January 1949.
  He wrote his memoirs which were published in 1950 and he died in the Hague, on 20 September 1962.
caption: Tokyo Bay, Japan – Surrender of Japanese aboard USS Missouri. Lieutenant-Admiraal C.E.L. Helfrich, representing the Kingdom of the Netherlands, signs the instrument of surrender. He is being watched by a compatriot and by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander, at the microphone.
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