22nd Heavy Armoured Brigade (the 'Heavy' was dropped on 14 April 1940) was formed at the outbreak of World War II on 3 September 1939 with the mobilisation of three part-time Yeomanry regiments of the Territorial Army (TA): 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (RGH), 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) and 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) (CLY). On 15 January 1940 it joined 2nd Armoured Division in Northern Command. Because 1st Armoured Division in France with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had first call on scarce resources, the equipment of 2nd Armoured Division and its units proceeded slowly during the Phoney War period.