[1] The Brigade played a vital role in the defence of the United Kingdom during the first year of the Second World War, including guarding aerodromes and other vulnerable points.

With the Battle of Britain being fought overhead, brigade troops were tasked with conducting anti-invasion exercises and the reconnaissance of all roads leading to the coast, covering most of Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

[3] The Brigade was reorganised and acquired the 2nd Battalion, The Rangers on 16 October 1940 when it came under the command of the 6th Armoured Division, under Major-General John Crocker, whose insignia was a white mailed fist with a black background.

The mailed fist –a symbol of the hard punch that an armoured formation gives the enemy –was selected by Crocker as the division's recognition flash from a design created by Lieutenant Colonel Broadhurst, an Australian serving on his staff as assistant director of Ordnance Services (Engineering).

The logistical challenges of staging the parade and the scale of the air threat sealed the fate of the Brigade, contributing towards the decision in 1942 to halve the tank strength of an armoured division.