George Cordon

Died of wounds during the battle for Norway .

8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters in Norway 1940
Campaign Context and Casualties
Part of ‘Sickleforce’, 8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters landed at Åndalsnes on April 18, 1940, as part of the 148th Independent Infantry Brigade. They moved south into the Gudbrandsdalen valley toward Lillehammer to support Norwegian forces. Out of roughly 1,200 men in the battalion who went ashore, heavy combat, chaotic retreats, and eventual encirclement by German forces led to massive overall losses, with hundreds captured as prisoners of war. The Lillehammer Northern Civil Cemetery holds a specific Commonwealth war plot containing 35 burials from the 1940 campaign, mostly shared between the 8th Sherwood Foresters and the 1/5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment.

The engagements in the Gudbrandsdalen valley during late April 1940 marked a brutal introduction to modern combined-arms warfare for the British Army. Tasked with advancing down the valley to support the retreating Norwegian Army and blocking the German advance northward from Oslo, the under-equipped British territorial units faced rapid encirclement, Luftwaffe dominance, and heavy casualties.
8–20 April (The Landing): The 148th Independent Infantry Brigade (comprising the 8th Sherwood Foresters and the 1/5th Leicestershire Regiment) landed at Åndalsnes. They were quickly put on trains down the valley toward Lillehammer.

21 April (Initial Contact): Moving into positions just north of Lillehammer, the British troops immediately encountered a highly mobile German force. The British lacked artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and transport vehicles, leaving them highly vulnerable.
22 April (The Retreat Begins): Under intense pressure from German armour, infantry, and relentless air strikes, the Allied forces were pushed out of Lillehammer. They began a fighting retreat north up the narrow valley.

23 April (The Disaster at Tretten): The 8th Sherwood Foresters and the Leicesters attempted to make a stand at a natural choke point near Tretten and the Rindheim farmhouse. German troops utilized light tanks and flanked the British via the surrounding high ridges. The British lines collapsed. The 8th Sherwood Foresters were virtually cut to pieces or surrounded, resulting in hundreds of men being taken as prisoners of war.