He served in the Second World War, becoming Commanding Officer (CO) of the 3rd Battalion, Scots Guards in 1940. He went on to be Commander of 201st Guards Motor Brigade Group and was captured while fighting in the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa in 1942 and became a prisoner of war in Italy, but escaped in 1943. In December 1943 he succeeded Brigadier John Marriott in command of the 32nd Guards Brigade, part of Major General Allan Adair's Guards Armoured Division, commanding the brigade throughout the campaign in North West Europe from 1944 to 1945.