A stumbling block for invading armies

From Vlieghuis – a hamlet between Coevorden and Schoonebeek – there used to be a narrow path through the peat bogs to the northwest. This path was called the Katshaar. Close to the Katshaar the route ran over a sandy ridge in the Dalervenen, past Den Hool in the direction of Sleen. To control this passage, a fortification in the shape of a redoubt was built.

The route to Groningen

In 1593, during the Eighty Years War, a troop of Spanish soldiers followed the Katshaar path on their way from Germany towards the city of Groningen. Sometime later a new but comparatively small star-shaped redoubt was laid out here. We do not know the actual year but the redoubt was certainly there in 1681. In 1797 a renovated redoubt consisted of a square measuring 50 x 50 metres. In front was a bank with two ramparts. Around the redoubt was a moat or rather a ditch, as it was almost dry in the summer.