The first Polish units approached the village of Buinen from the direction of Exloo, remaining unseen in the woods for a long time. However, the three Cromwell tanks and the vehicles that were located on the upper Zuider-Esch were spotted by the German troops, who had set up heavy machine guns in Buinen and who opened fire on the Polish tanks from a great distance.

On entering Buinen, 23-year-old corporal Stanisław Bieliniec was fatally hit and left laying in the meadow near the house of a local family, the Dieters. As the fighting continued, the Dieters family retrieved Bieliniec's lifeless body from the meadow and took him home, however their 8-year-old son Jacob was tragically killed by a stray bullet during the process.

Bieliniec's death is commemorated annually at the monument on Osdijk in Buinen.