Before the end of the Second World War in Europe the brigade saw active service in Italy, the South of France and Greece. At the end of the European war the brigade returned to the United Kingdom and was intended to join the 44th Indian Airborne Division in the Far East, for service against the Japanese Empire, but the war ended before they sailed. Instead the brigade was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, which had been named the Imperial Strategic Reserve, and sent to serve in the Mandate of Palestine.