At the outbreak of the Second World War, 1/QVR was serving as part of the 1st London Division and was designated a motor-cycle reconnaissance battalion, armed with revolvers instead of rifles. In May 1940, the battalion was transferred to the 30th Infantry Brigade, under Brigadier Claude Nicholson, and was hurriedly sent across the English Channel, but, due to an error, their motor cycles and sidecars were left in England. They fought in the desperate siege of Calais between 23 and 26 May, which bought valuable time for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to be evacuated from Dunkirk. Suffering very heavy losses, most of the battalion were either killed or captured and the battalion had to be reconstituted from scratch.