After training on 18-pounders and 4.5 howitzers, the regiment was equipped with 25-pound artillery pieces in early 1941. During the 9th Division's early involvement in the fighting in North Africa, the 2/8th was used to defend Mersa Matruh – a strategically important railhead on the Egyptian coast, lying between the ports of Tobruk and Alexandria – between May and September 1941, before moving to Sidi Barrani. In October 1941, they were moved to Palestine, before being sent to Syria in January 1942 to join the Allied garrison that had been established their following the defeat of the Vichy French forces there during the Syria–Lebanon Campaign. They remained there, establishing a position around Jdaidet on the Syria–Lebanon border to defend against a possible German invasion, until July 1942 when the 9th Division was hurriedly transferred to El Alamein, after the fall of Tobruk. By this time the regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Walter Tinsley. The regiment subsequently took part in both the First and Second Battles of El Alamein between July and November, firing over 163,000 shells, mainly in support of the 26th Brigade.