By late May, and after a period of training and refitting, the 25th Battalion was back up to full strength and moved to Kantara West, near the Suez Canal. Here, along with the rest of the 6th Brigade, the battalion manned defences against a possible attack from German "Fallschirmjäger" (paratroopers), recent events in Crete demonstrating the threat these forces could pose. The battalion shifted to the Baggush Box, near Mersa Matruh and to the west of Alexandria, in September 1941. At the same time, its commander, Wilder, was promoted to brigadier and given command of the New Zealand Training Group at Maadi Camp. The battalion's new commander was Lieutenant Colonel Gifford McNaught who had recently been involved in the fighting on Crete before being evacuated. At Baggush, the battalion improved the defences in the area and underwent intensive training in open desert warfare.