The Liberty Tour has been through Drenthe for almost a week and today the procession is running over the Drentse Hondsrug. At 8.30 am the column departs from the base camp in Westerbork in a northeastern direction and they pass a number of places that were crucial for the liberation of the Northern Netherlands. And at one of these locations you can watch live at RTV Drenthe.
Borger is such a place that was of great strategic importance in the struggle of the Allied forces against the Germans. The 1st Polish Armored Division played a decisive role. At a bridge just outside of Borger, in the direction of Ees, Polish soldiers came across the occupier and were taken under fire. Eventually they managed to take the bridge and continue to the north.
In the municipality of Borger-Odoorn, which the route is largely passed today, three Polish soldiers died. Boleslaw Laskowski near Odoorn, Stanislaw Kowalczyk in Borger and Stanislaw Bieleniec in Buinen. In those villages a street and a monument are named after them.
The entry of the procession at Borger can be seen live on our website, the RTV Drenthe app and our social media channels around 9.45 am. The broadcast will take an hour and can also be seen on TV Drenthe later in the weekend. The comment is from Herma Boer and Sjoerd Looijenga.