7th Queen's Own Hussars the Royal Armoured Corps in 1939. The regiment had been converted to tanks in 1937 and subsequently been trained in Cairo giving them a reasonable advantage. Although they might have thought that they were misplaced in Egypt, when Italy entered the war on the 10th June 1940, that thought quickly slipped their mind. They formed part of the 7th Armoured Brigade in the 7th Armoured Division and were joined by the 8th and the 11th Hussars. On the 14th June 1940 the 7th Hussars, with a company of the King's Royal Rifle Corps and a battery of 4th Royal Horse
2/7th Armoured Regiment (Australia) Wales, at this time. The delay in equipping the units of the 1st Armoured Division meant that their deployment was set back. Initially it had been planned to deploy the 2/7th Armoured Regiment, along with the rest of the 1st Armoured Brigade, in December 1941, however, this was not possible. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and invasion Malaya meant that the decision was made not to send the 1st Armoured Division to the Middle East as the situation in the Pacific had the potential to directly threaten the Australian mainland. In June 1942 the regiment was re-equipped