Sailing via Colombo where the troops were given a brief shore leave, the "Stratheden" entered the Suez Canal in mid-December 1940. Upon arrival in the Middle East, the battalion briefly occupied a camp at El Kantara, before moving to Dimra, in Palestine. At Dimra, the battalion joined the rest of the 26th Brigade for the first time, and undertook further training until March 1941. At this time, it moved to Cyrenica, along with the rest of the 9th Division, to undertake further training in the desert and to relieve the 6th Division which was deploying to Greece. Shortly after this, the Germans landed forces in Africa to reinforce the Italians and as the Axis went on the offensive, the British and Commonwealth forces in Libya were forced to retreat from Benghazi to the strategically important port town of Tobruk. In early April, the 2/48th fell back as part of the general retreat, setting up a blocking position around Tmimi during the withdrawal to prevent a German force cutting the division's route along the coast road. After eight days of constant movement through the desert, the battalion reached the port. They subsequently took part in the defence of Tobruk, where the battalion saw its first action of the North African Campaign for which it would receive one of its many battle honours.