Sailing via the longer, but safer southern route, on the way to the Middle East the convoy carrying the Australians made a port call at Durban, South Africa. While there, the battalion marched through the city under arms on 13 December 1940, before re-embarking. Disembarking in Alexandria, Egypt, on 31 December 1940, the battalion went into camp at Ikingi Maryut with 33 officers and 707 men. In February 1941, the battalion was transferred once more, as the 18th Brigade was reassigned to the 7th Division. Around the same time, the brigade was reduced to only three infantry battalions as part of an Army-wide re-organization, and the 2/11th Battalion was transferred to the 19th Brigade. With the 7th Division the battalion fought its first major engagement of the war on 21 March 1941, when it led the 18th Brigade's assault on the Italian fortress at Giarabub, which was held by about 1,500 Italians. Advancing from Siwa in Egypt, the battalion, supported by elements of the 2/10th and 2/12th Battalions, attacked from the south across marshland, while cavalry from the 6th Division Cavalry Regiment feigned an attack against the strongest point of the fortress. Amidst a sandstorm that limited visibility, heavy fighting ensued and the garrison surrendered at around 2:00 pm; 250 Italians were killed, while 1,300 were taken as prisoners of war. A total of 17 Australians were killed and 77 were wounded, with the majority of these being men from the 2/9th Battalion. Afterwards, the battalion was sent to Ikingi Maryut and the following month the 2/9th was transported to Tobruk by road and sea to reinforce the garrison there as German forces surrounded the strategic port in an effort to capture it. The 2/9th would remain in there for the next five months as Tobruk fell under siege.