On 4 April, the 49th Division ceased to function and the 146th and 148th Brigades (with the 147th Brigade remaining in England), both very poorly trained and equipped, took part in the short and ill-fated Norwegian Campaign, that were intended to retake the ports of Trondheim and Narvik from the German Army. The 146th Brigade came under command of "Mauriceforce", with the 148th under "Sickleforce". The poorly planned campaign was a complete disaster and the two brigades, fighting as two different brigade groups, and widely scattered from each other, withdrew from Norway in May 1940. One consolation, however, was that they gained the distinction of being amongst the very first British troops to fight the enemy in the Second World War, and certainly the first Territorials to do so. The brigades returned to the United Kingdom, where, on 10 June, the division was reconstituted in Scottish Command under Major General Henry Curtis. Curtis, the new General Officer Commanding (GOC), had commanded the division's sister formation, the 46th Division, during the Battle of France and in the BEF's subsequent retreat to Dunkirk, where it was evacuated to England, albeit with very heavy casualties. The 148th Brigade, which had suffered well over 1,400 casualties in Norway, did not rejoin the division, later becoming an independent formation.