Following the outbreak of the Pacific War, I Corps headquarters, along with the 6th and 7th Divisions, were released from service in the Middle East to meet the threat posed by the Japanese advance through the Pacific. The divisions departed Egypt by sea in several convoys between January and March 1942. The 9th Division would remain in the Middle East, though, upon request, and would see further action in the First and Second Battles of El Alamein, where they would be assigned to the British XXX Corps.