where it saw action during the Irish War of Independence: the battalion was engaged in several fire-fights with the Irish Republican Army. In 1923 they joined the allied occupation forces in Germany, returning to the UK in 1926. In 1935 the battalion commenced a tour of foreign service, serving in Palestine, Egypt and, in 1938, India. Second World War The 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, initially under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Wimberley, was sent to France as part of the 5th Brigade in the 2nd Division with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in September 1939. It then took part in the Battle of France and the subsequent Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940 under the command of Lt Col G P Rose-Miller, DSO, MC. After returning to England and being brought up to strength, the 1st Battalion was then deployed to Burma in mid-1942 and took part in numerous actions during the Burma Campaign, including the Battle of Kohima in April 1944, the Battle of Mandalay in February 1945 and the Irrawaddy River operations in March 1945. The 2nd Battalion, which was still in Sudan at the start of the war, moved to Egypt and then Libya as part of the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade in the 4th Indian Division and fought in Operation Battleaxe. Following the Battle of Gazala was captured when Tobruk fell in June 1942. It was reformed in the UK in December 1942 and sent to Italy as part of the reformed 11th Indian Infantry Brigade in the 4th Indian Division in January 1944 and served in Tunisia, Italy and, at the end of the war, in Greece. The 4th Battalion went to France as part of the 152nd Brigade in the 51st (Highland) Division with the British Expeditionary Force in October 1939 but, while commanded by Major-General Victor Fortune, they surrendered to Wehrmacht Major-General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux, Normandy on 12 June 1940. The 4th Battalion was reformed in the UK in July 1940 but was disbanded in December 1942 to form troops to reconstitute the 2nd Battalion. A detachment was also sent to the garrison of the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda in August, 1940, replacing a company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers. When the deposed King Carol II of Romania arrived in Bermuda in May, 1941, Lieutenant Edward Cameron was assigned to escort him while in Bermuda. Second-Lieutenant Donald Henry "Bob" Burns