 On the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, it was stationed in British India, where it had been since December 1936.However, for most of the early years of the war the battalion remained there on internal security duties until August 1942, several months after the Japanese Empire had entered the war, and there the battalion became part of the 64th Indian Infantry Brigade, serving alongside the 5th Battalion, 10th Baluch Regiment and 1st Battalion, 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles, both battalions of the British Indian Army.The brigade was part of the 19th Indian Infantry Division, the ""Dagger Division"".