 The 51st Division had been separated from the rest of the BEF earlier in the year, and, after hard fighting, retreated to Saint-Valery-en-Caux, where most of the division surrendered on 12 June 1940, Lang being among 10,000 to surrender that day.After escaping and making his way to Palestine (for which he was awarded the Military Cross), he served with the 2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders, and served with the battalion until August 1941.He returned to the United Kingdom and, eventually, went on to be Commanding officer (CO) of the 5th Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders from July 1944.