In March 1943 the 1st Battalion landed, with the rest of the 24th Guards Brigade, in Tunisia, to fight in the final stages of the campaign in North Africa. The Battalion saw extensive action while fighting through Tunisia and was subsequently deployed to the Italian Front in December of that year. The Battalion took part in the Anzio landings on 22 January 1944. They also participated in the fierce fighting around the Allied beachhead and suffered severe casualties fighting off a German counterattack at Campoleone after which the depleted battalion was returned to the UK in April.