The 2nd Battalion, KRRC, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Wilson, was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that landed in France in May 1940. The battalion, which was part of the 30th Infantry Brigade, 1st Armoured Division, and now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Euan Miller, was lost in the defence of Calais, where the brigade slowed the German advance and enabled the Dunkirk evacuation to proceed. The battalion was reformed in the summer of 1940 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Erskine and transferred to the 22nd Armoured Brigade of the 1st Armoured Division. The reformed battalion took part in the Battle of Gazala in May 1942 and the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 during the North African Campaign, forming part of the Division's 7th Motor Brigade during the latter engagement and transferring to 4th Armoured Brigade in January 1943. Now under Lieutenant Colonel W. Heathcote-Amory, the battalion continued serving with 4th Armoured Brigade in the Normandy landings in June 1944 and the subsequent campaign in North-West Europe, finally leaving 1st Division six days after VE Day. Two officers of note served with the battalion in its final campaign of the war, Roland Gibbs and Edwin Bramall.