During World War II, the battalion was re-raised as part of the Militia in September 1942, and undertook garrison duties in the Torres Strait, until it was disbanded in May 1944.

[2] Major Alan Herbert Wright served as the battalion's first commanding officer, in an acting capacity until Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Roy Marsden arrived in April.

[3][4] The establishment of machine gun battalions within the AIF was the final step in the evolution of the organisation of direct fire support during the war.

At the end of the Gallipoli Campaign, the AIF was reorganised and expanded in preparation for its transfer to the Western Front, and the machine gun sections within each infantry battalion had been consolidated into companies assigned at brigade level.

These companies had fought through the early battles following the Australians' arrival in Europe, including Fromelles, Bullecourt, Polygon Wood and Ypres.

[5] The battalion was equipped with a total of 64 Vickers medium machine guns – assigned at a scale of 16 per company – and took part in the final stages of the war, seeing action during the Allied defensive operations during the German spring offensive and then the Allied Hundred Days Offensive, which finally brought an end to the war.

Following the outbreak of World War II, four machine gun battalions were raised as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force, each assigned at divisional level.