The "Hallamshire Battalion", was part of Mauriceforce (Norwegian Campaign) in Norway in April 1940. The battalion was part of the 146th Infantry Brigade, itself part of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. The Hallamshires took part in the unsuccessful Namsos Campaign and were evacuated back to Britain by 5 May. The Hallamshires were sent to Iceland and the United Kingdom in April 1942, not seeing active service until the battalion was landed in Normandy soon after D-Day in June 1944 and fought its way through France, Belgium (where Corporal John Harper was awarded the regiment's fifth Victoria Cross), and into the Netherlands, where it was part of the bitter fighting that led to the eventual capture of Arnhem in April 1945.