 Together with their parent unit, 214th Infantry Brigade, they were the first British troops to fight on German soil.Their job was to take the north-west side of Gelsenkirchen to cover the left flank and support the American forces.The 50th (Holding) Battalion was raised in Burton upon Trent on 1 June 1940 and, like with the 11th Battalion, originally consisted of three rifle companies of civilians conscripted for military service and a fourth formed from men returning from the Dunkirk evacuation.