In early March 1941, the 2/15th entrained at Gaza and moved to Mersa Matruh, as the 9th Division began to relieve the 6th Division along the front line in the Western Desert so that the latter could be transferred to Greece, where a German invasion was expected. A few days later the battalion was moved to Tobruk. From there it moved by road in captured Italian vehicles to Derna and on to Tochra, then Benghazi, and eventually Barce. Throughout early April, the 2/15th became involved in the large-scale withdrawal that followed the landing of German forces around Tripoli as part of Axis efforts to reinforce the Italians in North Africa following British gains in western Egypt and Cyrenaica during Operation Compass in 1940–41. The battalion subsequently fell back east along the coast towards Tobruk. During the retreat about 180 men, including the battalion's commanding officer, Marlan, were taken prisoner when their headquarters was surrounded by a force of 18 tanks and unsuccessfully attempted to fight their way out. These men spent several years in captivity, being held initially in camps in North Africa before moving to Italy and later Germany; some managed to escape either in North Africa, or from Italy; several eventually rejoined the battalion, while others linked up with Italian or Yugoslavian partisans with whom they fought against German forces later in the war.