 When war came in 1939, McClintock was mobilised at once (though King-Hall continued to pay him).After an inactive winter he joined, in early 1940, a battalion of the Scots Guards recruited (largely of officers who had to resign their commissions) to fight with the Finns against the Russians.So, at the taxpayers' expense, they went to the Alps to train in Chamonix; in the event, the Finns surrendered, and the regiment was disbanded.