Achterveld is a village in the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 province of Utrecht

Utrecht (province)

Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...

. It is a part of the municipality of Leusden

Leusden

Leusden is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is located about 3 kilometres southeast of Amersfoort....

, and lies about 8 km east of Amersfoort

Amersfoort

Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. The city is growing quickly but has a well-preserved and protected medieval centre. Amersfoort is one of the largest railway junctions in the country, because of its location on two of the...

.

The village is a catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 enclave in a protestant region. It has a neo-romanic church.

In 2001, the village of Achterveld had 1616 inhabitants. The built-up area of the village was 0.50 km², and contained 651 residences.
The statistical area "Achterveld", which also can include the peripheral parts of the village, as well as the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 2570.

On April 28 and 30, 1945, Achterveld was the scene of high-ranking talks now known as 'The Achterveld Conference' between the Allied command - a.o. the generals Bedell Smith

Walter Bedell Smith

Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith was a senior United States Army general who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff at Allied Forces Headquarters during the Tunisia Campaign and the Allied invasion of Italy...

 (USA), Foulkes

Foulkes

Foulkes may refer to:* Carly Foulkes , Canadian model* Lt-Gen Charles Foulkes , Canadian soldier who served in World War II* Maj-Gen Charles Howard Foulkes , British soldier, and adviser on gas warfare in World War I...

 (Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

), Sir Francis de Guingand (British), prince Bernhard (The Netherlands), Susloparov

Ivan Susloparov

Ivan Alekseyevich Susloparov was a Soviet general who served as the Military Liaison Mission Commander with the French government and the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe in 1944-45. He is mostly known as the person who signed for the Soviet Union the German Instrument of Surrender on May 7,...

 (SU

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

) and the occupying German government of the Netherlands, headed by 'Reichskomissar' Arthur Seyss-Inquart

Arthur Seyss-Inquart

Arthur Seyss-Inquart was a Chancellor of Austria, lawyer and later Nazi official in pre-Anschluss Austria, the Third Reich and for wartime Germany in Poland and the Netherlands...

, and his aides. They discussed urgent food-help for the starving cities in the west of Holland, which Seyss-Inquart allowed, and which started the day after, April 29, by plane from England, code-named Operation Manna.

The Allies tried to start negotiations about an unconditional German surrender. Seyss-Inquart did not want to comply there and then, although a general cease-fire was convened. The Germans ceased their resistance only on May 5 following, in Wageningen

Wageningen

' is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 37,414 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...

.
(Source: Dr Loe de Jong

Loe de Jong

Louis de Jong was a Dutch journalist and historian specialising in the history of the Netherlands in World War II and the Dutch resistance....

: Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog ('The Kingdom of the Netherlands during the Second World War'), SDU, 1966–81).