In August 1941 the Czechoslovak government-in-exile asked for the 11th Battalion to be moved to Britain to be united with Czechoslovak forces there. The British military authorities refused, and instead on 6 October 1941 transferred the battalion from the 23rd Infantry Brigade to the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, which was besieged in Tobruk in Libya. The battalion served at Tobruk for 158 days, including 51 in combat.