One of the division's regiments, the 2/6th, was deployed to New Guinea in September 1942, where it fought during the Battle of Buna–Gona in late 1942 and early 1943. Other than this deployment, the rest of the division remained in Australia and in July 1943 it moved to Western Australia, while the 2nd Armoured Division was disbanded, the 3rd Armoured Division was concentrated in Queensland and the 3rd Army Tank Brigade remained in New South Wales. Meanwhile, as the threat of invasion passed the need for large armoured formations had lessened, and the divisions had been broken up between mid-1943 and 1944 with only one operational brigade remaining by the end of the war.