On June 6, 1944, word spread that British and American troops had landed in great force in Normandy. The Allies worked their way slowly up the country, and that September they fought a huge battle at the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem, Truus' birthplace. On May 5 the Germans in the Netherlands surrendered to the Allies. Three days later the German Wehrmacht and the rump Nazi government in Flebsburg signed the complete and unconditional capitulation and surrendered to the allies all over Europe.