Samuel Ivan Marriott

Operational Log: 26 May 1940
• 04:00 – Order to Move: Following intense German breakthroughs near the Lys river, the 9th Foresters received orders to pull out of their defensive lines near the sector they were holding further south/east.
• Midday – Transit to Cassel: The battalion was organized into motorized transport columns and moved northwest toward the strategic hilltop town of Cassel. The objective was to form a cohesive defensive flank under "Macforce" (a temporary formation under Major-General F.N. Mason-MacFarlane).
• Late Afternoon – Arrival at Mont des Récollets: Elements of the battalion arrived at the eastern approaches of Cassel. They were immediately tasked with reinforcing the Mont des Récollets, a vital high-ground ridge just east of Cassel town.
• 18:00 – Digging In: The Foresters began preparing defensive positions, slit trenches, and roadblocks alongside troops from the 1st Light Armoured Reconnaissance Brigade. They spent the night of May 26 under intermittent artillery shellfire as German vanguard units rapidly approached from the south and west.

The Foresters' time at Cassel was defined by these rapidly shifting rearguard actions:
• May 26: The battalion maintained and improved their defensive perimeters, although enemy patrols were already probing the forward positions and armored vehicles were reported in the area.
• May 27: The situation turned tragic. While moving in a motor convoy towards Steenvorde, a column of the 9th Sherwood Foresters was ambushed in the Grande Place of Cassel by German Stuka dive bombers, resulting in numerous casualties.
• Evacuation: Despite the heavy shelling, aerial bombing, and fierce resistance in what the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) called "The Alamo", the survivors of the 9th Sherwood Foresters successfully retreated and were evacuated from the Dunkirk beaches back to the UK