After fighting in the Battle of France in May 1940, the brigade retreated to Dunkirk and was evacuated on 31 May 1940, after the German Army threatened to cut off the BEF from the French Army. During the fighting the brigade, together with the rest of 44th Division, had sustained heavy losses, with 1/6th Queen's losing 9 officers and 400 other ranks, 3 of the officers and 130 men taken as prisoners of war (POWs) and 1/5th 125 casualties. Back in England, the brigade was reformed in numbers and re-equipped and positioned in Southeast England to defend what the divisional commander, Major-General Brian Horrocks, regarded as 'the No 1 German invasion area, stretching from the Isle of Thanet to Dover and on to Folkestone'.