The 24th Battalion was formed on 1 February 1940 at Narrow Neck Military Camp with personnel drawn largely from the Auckland region.

After an initial period at Narrow Neck, the men moved to Papakura Military Camp where the main draft of the battalion arrived on 15 May 1940 for training.

[7] In Katerini, while en route to its allocated position, the battalion suffered its first casualty, when an enlisted man was accidentally shot.

Shuttleworth positioned his headquarters in the village of Palaio Eleftherochori, close to the railway line on the Greek eastern coast near the Gulf of Salonika.

After the German invasion of Greece on 6 April, the 24th Battalion occupied its battle positions and the bridge over the anti tank ditch north of the village of Skala Eleftherochoriou was destroyed.

Refugees from the north blocked roads and panicked the local villages, who attempted to flee, but were stopped by the intervention of Shuttleworth.

[11] After a period of refitting, disrupted by a move to near the Suez Canal to defend a possible attack, the battalion shifted to the Baggush Box in September 1941.

Here the battalion underwent training in desert warfare in preparation for its role in the upcoming Operation Crusader, planned to lift the siege of Tobruk.

[13] In November, the 6th Brigade moved to its starting positions in Libya to be held in reserve while the initial part of the offensive commenced.

[15] Leaving early in the morning of 23 November, Shuttleworth led his battalion along the correct route and reached the appropriate waypoint by dawn.

[18] Despite, the battalion's B Company capturing the summit of Point 175 the following day,[19] it was not until 27 November that all of Sidi Rezegh was under the control of the New Zealanders.

[20] The 6th Brigade was strung out along Sidi Rezegh in pockets, vulnerable to a counter-attack, and elements of the 15th Panzer Division began attacking on 28 November.

The next day was uneventful, apart from occasional artillery, but elsewhere Point 175 was captured by the Germans and the 4th Infantry Brigade, positioned to the north, was coming under attack.

[24] Despite the support of anti-tank guns, both 24th and 26th Battalions were overrun and Shuttleworth was made a prisoner-of war along with his surviving company commanders.

[29] The battalion was reformed at Baggush from those who had escaped capture at Sidi Rezegh and other personnel that had been left out of battle, along with replacements from New Zealand.

It moved to Maadi Camp in January 1942 and shortly afterwards was called into Cairo for four days to increase the Allied presence there and counter potential unrest amongst the civilian population of the city.

[31] Stationed close to the border with Turkey, to the northwest of Aleppo, 24th Battalion covered railway lines in the area as well as conducting training.

Firing from the edge of a low cliff overlooking the depression, the Germans caused heavy losses before moving through the battalion's position in pursuit of the British armour.

The battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Greville was killed, one of 280 casualties from the 440 personnel that were involved in the attack.

[36] The rest of 6th Brigade moved to the southern section of the Alamein line where manned defensive positions during the Battle of Alam Halfa, Rommel's failed attempt to cut off the 8th Army.

[37] The 8th Army was now under the command of General Bernard Montgomery, who was planning for offensive operations against the Afrika Corps, which had formed a defensive position at Alamein.

The New Zealanders advanced behind a creeping artillery barrage which commenced at 9:40 pm and quickly attained all its objectives and began consolidating them.

Along with two British infantry brigades, the 2nd New Zealand Division resumed the fight on 2 November in Operation Supercharge, which was intended to break the frontlines in the south.

[40] The 2nd New Zealand Division moved to the banks of the Sangro River later in the month and 6th Brigade was scheduled to mount a night crossing on 21 November.

Two companies of 24th Battalion had crossed the previous night to reconnoitre the opposite bank but the attack was postponed due to the weather.

Although the infantry made some gains, the German defences were too strong and the attack soon faded into a stalemate, with a number of back and forth actions as winter set in.

[43] An initial attack involving the 4th Indian Division, the 28th Maori Battalion and New Zealand engineers, was mounted in February but failed due to a lack of air and armoured support.

[47] The battalion, along with other elements of the 2nd New Zealand Division, remained in and around Trieste for several weeks to counter the presence of the partisans, who had laid claim to the city.

It was not until mid-June that the partisans withdrew from the city and it would be several more weeks before the New Zealand government decided that the division would not be required for service in the Pacific theatre of operations.

Lieutenant Colonel Boord took over command of the battalion in July and early the following month it withdrew to wintering positions near Florence.