The 8th Battalion was formed as a duplicate of the 4th Battalion on 18 June 1939 (first officer commissioned) organized as a motorcycle battalion. On 2 October 1939 it was assigned to the 23rd (Northumbrian) Division. The division was sent to France on 22 April 1940, on labour and training duties, without any of its artillery or the bulk of its signals and administration units. On 20 May 1940, the division suffered heavy casualties trying to delay the German advance at Arras and had to be evacuated at Dunkirk. On its return to the UK, after Dunkirk, the 23rd Division was disbanded due to the heavy losses it had suffered.