[5] It began to receive significant numbers of tanks as a consequence of its assignment to the 8th Armoured Division, deliveries of the close-support version of the Matilda II and Valentine tanks beginning about that same time.

The division remained in Britain until May 1942 when it was sent to the Middle East to join the Eighth Army, becoming active there in early July.

[5][7] Before the Second Battle of El Alamein, the brigade was reinforced by the addition of the 8th Royal Tank Regiment to a strength of about 186 Valentines; the 5th RHA was exchanged for the 107th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, with sixteen Bishop self-propelled guns.

The brigade suffered heavily during the battle and it remained in Egypt to refit and reorganise.

[5][7] In December 1942, elements of the brigade, now with the 11th (Queen's Westminsters) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) under command, began to move forward but it saw no combat until it entered Tunisia on 17 February 1943.

Only the 40th RTR participated in the initial landings at Salerno during Operation Avalanche, part of the Allied invasion of Italy, which began the Italian Campaign.

In March 1944 the brigade was transferred to the British V Corps which had a holding role on the eastern side of the Gustav Line by the Adriatic Sea while the Eighth and Fifth Armies combined to launch Operation Diadem in the Cassino sector.

The Allies finally broke the German defences there after three unsuccessful attempts in the Battle of Monte Cassino since January.

In August 1944, the brigade was renamed Force 140, later Arkforce after its commander, Brigadier Arkwight and was dismounted from its tanks.

[5][7] Arkforce arrived at Piraeus on 12 October 1944 as part of the British occupying force in Greece when the Germans withdrew.