The 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade was in England on the outbreak of the Second World War, originally part of the 1st Support Group, part of the 1st Armoured Division. In late April 1940, however, the battalion transferred to the newly created 30th Infantry Brigade and landed in France the following month within the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) but was lost at the defence of Calais, where the brigade slowed the German advance and enabled the Dunkirk evacuation to proceed. The battalion was reformed in the United Kingdom and became part of the 2nd Armoured Brigade of the 1st Armoured Division and took part in many battles in the North African Campaign before transferring to the 22nd Armoured Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division in June 1942. Now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Stephens, the 1st Battalion's four 6-pounders were credited with destroying many tanks from the 21st Panzer Division at the Battle of Alam el Halfa on 31 August 1942. The 1st Battalion subsequently took part in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Tunisian Campaign until May 1943 when the war in North Africa ended with the surrender of almost 250,000 German and Italian soldiers. The battalion, with the rest of the 7th Armoured Division, took part in the Allied invasion of Italy, and the early stages of the Italian Campaign, in September 1943, returning to England in January 1944 and took part in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, going on to fight throughout the North West Europe Campaign until Victory in Europe Day in May 1945, ending the war in Hamburg, Germany, and commanded throughout by Lieutenant Colonel A. G. V. Paley.