During the Second World War, the 147th Brigade remained as part of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division throughout the war but did not see service in the Norwegian Campaign, being replaced in the division by the Regular 24th Guards Brigade and remained in the United Kingdom. The brigade was stationed in Iceland, and adopted as its insignia the polar bear on an ice floe. In 1942 it was transferred back to the United Kingdom until June 1944, when it invaded Normandy shortly after the initial D-Day landings on 6 June and fought in the battle for Caen in Operation Martlet (where 6th DWR suffered such severe casualties that it was disbanded) and the Second Battle of the Odon and later in the capture of Le Havre (Operation Astonia), clearing the Channel Coast, and the Battle of the Scheldt. With the rest of 49th Division, the brigade fought its last battle of the war in April 1945 in the Liberation of Arnhem and the fierce battles that led up to it. During the fighting on the Continent, the 49th Infantry Division was nicknamed the "Polar Bears" because of their divisional insignia and were christened by