Near Beusichem, civilians were forced to do digging work for the occupying forces. As the violence of war approached, male residents were forced to dig tank trenches, trenches and foxholes. The men were accompanied by Germans from Organisation Todt, the semi-military service responsible for building compounds and defences for the army.

The organisation was named after its founder Fritz Todt. One of the Germans in the picture is wearing a white armband with the letter OT. In Culemborg, the Dutch headquarters of the service was located in the building of the former seminary in the town from March 1944 to October 1944.