The 8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters in Norway April 1940

Discussion in 'WW2 Battlefields Today' started by Steve Foster, Dec 13, 2011.

  1. Sue Beeson

    Sue Beeson Member

    I've just found your post with the contact details! Many thanks indeed, I will most certainly contact Mr Edwards. Really appreciate your kindness, Steve.
     
  2. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Sue,

    I have just been re-reading two books about the fighting at Rindheim farmhouse at Tretten on 23 April 1940 and have found a mention of your father and the action he and his platoon were involved in. I have scanned and posted here pages 93, 94 and 95 from Joseph Kynoch's book "Norway 1940, The Forgotten Fiasco". It is in fact a quote from Captain Beckwith's diaries of his experiences in Norway and is also reproduced in C Housley's book "First Contact".

    Captain Beckwith was the Officer Commanding A Company of the 8th Foresters and it appeared your father commanded 7 platoon from A Company. The first page tells the story of how A Company were in reserve at Tretten but were then ordered up to the "Rindheim Position" to join the rest of the Foresters in the stand they were about to make. Incidently my father was the platoon sergeant of the detached Brigade Staff platoon who also were ordered up to the Rindheim position and would have been manning the firing positions very near to your father's platoon. If you read the fourth paragraph down, it describes how A Company were met at a rendezvous by Major Jones who took off 8 and 9 platoons whilst 7 platoon led by 2/Lt Crawford reported to the battalion CO with Captain Beckwith. He would have been privy to the conversation between Lt Col Ford and Captain Beckwith.

    If you read the last para of page 94 and the first page 95, it describes how 7 platoon was engaging the enemy who were attempting to advance across the "muck field" where small arms fire was whipping across it. Your father and his platoon would have been right in the thick of the defence of this position. As you will read, tanks attacked the position and got right into the position which the Foresters were defending. It was during this tank attack that my father sustained shrapnel wounds. Please see below the three pages
     
  3. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Sorry Sue, the pages failed to attach, here they are:

    Scan0007.jpg
    Scan0008 (2).jpg
    Scan0008.jpg

    Unfortunately they have attached in the wrong order! The middle attachment should be read last as page 95.

    Tomorrow I will attach some photographs I took during my visit in 2010 of the battle at Rindheim which will show the field, the rock sangar where Colonel Ford spoke to Captain Beckwith with your father present and the most likely sangar that 7 platoon were defending.

    Regards,

    Steve
     
  4. Sue Beeson

    Sue Beeson Member

    Steve
    Just finished reading. It was a strange feeling, suddenly coming across my father's name....even though I knew it was coming, so to speak. It made the whole reading experience suddenly much more personal and vivid. What hell war is. The descriptions of that fighting bely the minute by minute anxiety, the physical ordeal.......well, the bravery of those men, the odds so stacked against them. Dad never really spoke much about his war time experiences, but he had recurring nightmares about it for pretty much the rest of his life. He never got over his hatred for the Germans and I think this was partly to blame for the fact that he became very much a rolling stone, only 'settling down' in his late 40s and 50s. He eventually ended up with his own trout fly tying company in the highlands of Kenya. Fly fishing was his greatest love. He was a wonderful, charming man; I loved him and miss him to this day.
    Thanks again Steve, for posting that. Could you let me know the name of the book you referred to and where to find those photos you took?
    Best wishes
    Sue
     
  5. Sue Beeson

    Sue Beeson Member

    Steve, just seen that you DID give the title of that book! Thanks again.
     
  6. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Sue,

    Here are some photos I took during my visit to Rindheim in 2010:

    Bn HQSangar.JPG
    B & C Coys Sangars.JPG
    Field of Fire from Bn Sangar (2).jpg
    View from Rindheim to Foresters positions.JPG
    P1050244.JPG


    Photo 1: The Battalion HQ Sangar where Lt Col Ford was positioned and where he, Captain Beckwith and your father had their pre-action discussion.
    Photo 2: A view from one of the many sangars down to Rindheim farmhouse. The tank attack came straight up this track from the farmhouse to the sangars.

    Photo 3: Photo showing the excellent field of fire the Foresters had down to the Germans advancing across the field. This is the field where "small arms fire was whipping across it from the far side".

    Photo 4: The view the advancing German infantry would have as they came out of the trees by Rindheim farmhouse. Many of the sangars can be seen at the border of the field and the forest. The Foresters accounted for many of the enemy before they ran out of ammunition.

    Photo 5: A sketch of the same position from the Regimental war diary. Your father's platoon position is labelled "1 Pln A Coy" and my father's position was right next to it in the position labelled "Bde Personnel". Basically all of the rear echelon HQ staff were formed up into a fighting platoon with dad as the platoon sergeant and sent to the Rindheim position to fight.

    I hope that helps, but please remember in mid April all of this area would have been covered in snow. If you turn to page 1 of this thread you will see I have posted these and many more with detailed explanations.

    Regards

    Steve
     
  7. pswood

    pswood Member

    Hello Steve,

    Surprised to find dad's army records had arrived upon my return! Records show he disembarked Norway 18/4/40 and disembarked U.K. ex N.W.E.F. 6/5/40.

    He was previously temp. att., No.3 RASC in France for 5 months, returned 28/2/40.
     
  8. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Hello Pete,

    They came quickly, he was a member of the BEF and NWEF and by the dates given, one of the last to be evacuated from Molde or Andalsnes. I guess you have the evidence now to forward in support of your application for the Norwegian Defence medal.

    Steve
     
  9. Tullybrone

    Tullybrone Senior Member

    Hi Sue,

    If you are not already aware you can apply for your fathers International Red Cross ((ICRC) file via the Red Cross in Switzerland. It is a free service to immediate next of kin. You can apply online but it will take a year to get the papers.

    You can also look for his Liberation Questionnaire in the National Archives at Kew.

    Steve Y
     
  10. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    After application on behalf of my late father, Sgt F Foster, for the Norwegian Defence Medal, I have received the following reply:

    NorDefMed.jpg

    It appears the Defence Medal cannot be awarded posthumously but all of the men of the North West Expeditionary Force who survived the fighting were eligible. I wonder how many of them knew that?

    However, the good news is that the King Haakon VII Freedom Medal can be awarded posthumously and I will apply for that medal. Details of the medal are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Haakon_VII_Freedom_Medal

    It is also of note that the King Haakan Medal is of higher precedence than the Defence Medal.

    Will update the thread when I receive a reply to the application.

    Steve
     
  11. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    I have attached below typed versions of the War Diaries, of both the 8th Sherwood Foresters and 148 Inf Bde, for 23 April 1940. This was the day they made their stand at Tretten against the German 196 Division (Kampfgroup Pelengahr) and were destroyed as a fighting unit. Firstly 148 Bde diary:

    148 Bde 1.jpg
    148 Bde 2.jpg

    This is the personal diary of Maj TKL Roberts, the 2 I/c 8SF which was written in manuscript whilst a POW. As the official diary was destroyed by enemy action, the war office recognised this as the official dairy .

    Major Roberts 1.jpg
    Major Roberts 2.jpg

    I have all of the other pages but have only typed the day of the Brigade action at Tretten.

    Steve
     
  12. Magnum

    Magnum Member

  13. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Hello Magnum,

    Happy New Year to you. Thanks for the attachments, particularly the link to Norway Through a Lens.

    Regards

    Steve
     
  14. Magnum

    Magnum Member

    Attached Files:

  15. Magnum

    Magnum Member

  16. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Good morning, just to let relatives of members of the 8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters know that I have been invited to give a presentation in Newark about the central Norwegian campaign in general and the actions of the Foresters in Norway in April 1940. It will be a PowerPoint presentation and I will use photos I took during my visit to Lillehammer/Tretten and also original photos and documents.

    It will last about 45 minutes and will take place at the RAFA Club in Newark and start at 7.30 pm on 9th of April. Members of the Foresters' Association will be present plus representatives from the RBL, RNA and other local military organisations. Members of C Company (The Mansfield Company), 4 Mercians, who can trace their lineage to C Coy 8th Foresters, will also be attending.

    The Point of Contact for the evening is Mr John Stephenson; If anyone is interested in attending and would like details of the venue I will forward contact details by PM.

    Regards

    Steve
     
  17. clive7

    clive7 Member

    Thanks for the 'heads-up' Steve.

    Would love to be there,..but i'm the other end of the globe,..'C' com. was my Dad's lot!
    Look forward to your update.

    Regards,
    Clive Gilbert
     
  18. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    ,Hi Steve

    just a small addition for you:
    The first attack came from 2./MG-Btl 13 under Oberleutnant Gerlach. The attack was effectively stopped by 148 Brigade and tanks were called.
    After the fightings the gun platoon of IR 340 found several british maps and documents in a forrest east of Tretten who went to the regimental intel section.

    scans from : ,,Krieg im Norden'' from Dirk Levsen pages 70/71 ( http://www.amazon.de/Krieg-Norden-Kämpfe-Norwegen-Frühjahr/dp/3813206866 )
    1 - burial of british soldiers
    Scannen0049 (450x347).jpg
    2- Tretten remains
    Scannen0051 (450x386).jpg
    3- Oberleutnant Gerlach (right) and General Dietl in 1941
    Scannen0052 (450x429).jpg

    best regards
    Olli
     
  19. airborne medic

    airborne medic Very Senior Member

    Steve,

    Thanks for the invite but regretfully I will be able to make it...I hope the evening goes well.....Signs of the book 'Doomed before the Start' are now filtering down onto the internet......
     
  20. Steve Foster

    Steve Foster Senior Member

    Olli,

    Thanks very much for adding those photographs and the information about Oberleutnant Gerlach, all new information to me, it helps bring the battle at Tretten to life.

    Regards

    Steve
     

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