[1][2] 8 Recce was formed at Guillemont Barracks, near Aldershot in southern England, on March 11, 1941, by merging three existing squadrons within the division.

The last commanding officer was Major "Butch" J. F. Merner, appointed to replace Alway a couple of months before the end of the fighting in Europe.

In 1941 an Active Service regiment was mobilized, and its members joined with other reconnaissance personnel in England to form 8 Recce.

Reconnaissance involves determining the location and capabilities of enemy units, and providing current information concerning the state of the theatre of operations (e.g., road and bridge conditions, alternative lines of advance).

Weak enemy positions might be attacked if the opportunity arose, but strong-points are generally bypassed and left for assault units to tackle.

Unless the enemy is retreating in especially disorganized fashion, a lightly armoured reconnaissance unit is vulnerable to land mines and ambushes.

Although the ruggedness and speed of these lightly armoured wheeled vehicles was ideal for the reconnaissance role during the campaign across Northwest Europe, they were vulnerable to German antitank weapons, such as the 75-mm and 88-mm guns.

8 Recce spent the first three years of its existence involved in training and coastal defence duties in southern England.

It was not involved in the ill-fated Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942, and thus avoided the heavy losses suffered that day by many other units of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division.

The regiment's first three combat deaths occurred on July 13, two of which when a shell struck a slit trench sheltering two men near Le Mesnil.

8 Recce provided the reconnaissance function for its division during the advance of the First Canadian Army eastward out of Normandy, up to and across the Seine River, and then along the coastal regions of northern France and Belgium.

8 Recce saw heavy action through to the end of the war including the costly Battle of the Scheldt, the liberation of the Netherlands and the invasion of Germany.

They succeeded in crossing the Tourques, then circled back to Orbec and attacked the German defenders unexpectedly from the north and east.

The reconnaissance role of 8 Recce often put its members well ahead of the main body of the division, especially during the pursuit of the retreating German army across northern France and Belgium in late August and September 1944.

The German defenders had been warned that they would be attacked by ground support aircraft on their second low-level pass if they did not surrender immediately.

In 1968 the militia regiment was essentially disbanded when it was moved to the Supplementary Order of Battle as part of a major reorganization of the Canadian Forces.