Lieutenant Cecil Sewell won the Battalion's only Victoria Cross for an outstanding act of bravery at Frémicourt in August of that year.

In 1940, 3 RTR, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Reginald Keller, was preparing for deployment as part of 1st Armoured Division when it was diverted at short notice to Calais.

All of its tanks were lost, and many personnel were killed or taken prisoner, but some escaped to Dunkirk or were evacuated from Calais before the port fell.

[1] The regiment was subsequently rebuilt in the United Kingdom as part of 3rd Armoured Brigade, its original parent formation.

Shipped to the Middle East, it was part of the 1st Armoured Brigade when it was sent to defend Greece to try to stem the German invasion in March 1941.