After completing training in Palestine, in early 1941, the 2/15th took up positions along the front line in the Western Desert, before being pushed back to Tobruk. Between April and October 1941, along with a garrison of British and other Australian personnel, the battalion helped to hold the strategically important port, which had been surrounded following the landing of German troops at Tripoli. It was withdrawn by sea in late October 1941 as the 9th Division was relieved by the British 70th Division. Following its withdrawal from Tobruk, the battalion re-formed at Gaza before undertaking garrison duties in Syria. In mid-1942, the 2/15th returned to North Africa to fight in the First and Second Battles of El Alamein.