On September 9, members of the Slovenian Army from numerous units visited Stalag XVIII D, thus starting a multi-day march along the 272-kilometer-long international memorial trail of the Alliance Vranov let to freedom from Ožbalt to Bela Krajina. The march will be carried out in daily stages, with intermediate stops, where other units of the Slovenian Army will join daily. Last year, the march was carried out for the first time, so it will now be a traditional gesture.
This year marks 81 years since the liberation of Allied prisoners of war, housed in the Stalag XVIII prisoner of war camp and labor camps in Maribor. They were liberated on August 30 and 31, 1944 in Ožbalt and on Bistriško Pohorje. Escorted by Slovenian partisans, they walked 273 kilometers through occupied territory and across the Sava River in difficult conditions to the partisan airfield Otok near Metliki, from where they were transported by Dakota DC-3 aircraft to the Allied base in Bari, Italy.
