 After the Munich Agreement in 1938 the TA was doubled in size by duplicating units.The Essex Regiment chose to designate its battalions '1/' and '2/' as it did in the First World War.During 1939 the 6th Battalion, Essex Regiment duplicated and both the 1/6th and 2/6th battalions became the 64th and 65th Searchlight Regiment respectively, but still remained part of the Essex Regiment.