In common with all other infantry battalions that were transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps, the personnel continued to wear their Hampshire Regiment cap badges on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps.
In September, it was transferred to the 43rd Mixed Infantry Division, training in infantry-tank co-operation.
In late June 1944, 147 RAC was sent, with the rest of the brigade, overseas to France as part of the invasion of Normandy and fought in the Normandy Campaign in particular during Operation Greenline, part of the Second Battle of the Odon launched in mid-July.
The regiment continued to serve with the brigade in Normandy until the breakout and later in the Siege of Le Havre (Operation Astonia), the Battle of the Reichswald (Operation Veritable, where the regiment suffered very heavy casualties and could only muster two weak squadrons) in February 1945, and the crossing of the River Rhine (Operation Plunder), when the Allies invaded Germany in March 1945.
After Victory in Europe Day, on 8 May 1945, the regiment and brigade began preparing for service in the South-East Asian theatre.