In mid-1942, as US forces began arriving on Fiji, the brigade returned to New Zealand. After a period of training in New Zealand, the brigade departed for New Caledonia in December 1942. Further training took place there and on Guadalcanal as the 3rd Division was given a combat role within the Solomon Islands campaign. In September 1943, the brigade was committed to its first combat action, landing on Vella Lavella and fighting a short, but sharp engagement against the Japanese garrison. The brigade remained there until it took part in its next landing on the Nissan Islands, in what became known as the Battle of the Green Islands in February 1944.