On 15 February 1940, 44 LAA Bty went to Fleet, Hampshire, France to help form a new &lt;a href="101st%20Light%20Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Tank%20Regiment%2C%20Royal%20Artillery"&gt;101 LAA/Anti-Tank Rgt&lt;/a&gt; for 1st Support Group in 1st Armoured Division with the BEF. It sailed for France on 16 May when the Battle of France had already begun. It immediately went into action to hold crossings over the Seine until the tanks arrived, though the LAA batteries only had Lewis gunss. It took part in the Battle of Abbeville and then, when the bulk of the BEF had been evacuated from Dunkirk the remnants of the Support Group fought on until they were evacuated from western France in Operation Ariel (15–17 June). 101st LAA/AT Rgt was broken up in November 1940, but 44 LAA Bty did not return to its parent unit. Instead it joined a new 61st LAA Rg in 1st Support Group, with which it fought in North Africa.