Shortly after the Second World War began, in September 1939, Wimberley took his battalion to France, where it formed part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The battalion was part of Brigadier Gerald Gartlan's 5th Infantry Brigade, part of the 2nd Infantry Division, then commanded by Major-General Charles Loyd, and arrived in France in late September. There was no immediate action, however, and in late December Wimberley was sent to England and made GSO1 and Chief Instructor at the Senior Officers' School, Sheerness, so missing the hostilities in France which commenced in May 1940.