In February 1942, the 41st Infantry Division was alerted for overseas movement. It handed over its coastal defence responsibilities to the 3rd Infantry Division and concentrated at Fort Lewis. First to depart was the 162nd Infantry, 641st Tank Destroyer Battalion, and 41st Reconnaissance Troop, which entrained later that month for Fort Dix. This group departed the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 3 March 1942 and sailed for the Pacific via the Panama Canal, reaching Melbourne on 9 April. They were among the first U.S. military units to be engaged in offensive ground combat operations. (The others were the 32nd who preceded them into combat on New Guinea; the Americal and the 1st Marine on Guadalcanal, Carlson's Raiders on Makin Island; and the 9th, 3rd Infantry and the 2nd Armored Divisions who fought in North Africa.)