 Soon after mobilisation the division began training and preparing for overseas service.In early January 1940 the 145th Brigade, commanded at the time by acting Brigadier Archibald Cecil Hughes, and the rest of 48th Division, was sent to France in early January 1940 to join the rest of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) which was stationed on the Franco-Belgian border, alongside the French Army.The 145th Brigade landed in France on 18 January 1940 and was the last brigade of 48th Division to land.