war on the continent against a European adversary, was not considered for much of the interwar period by the British government which deemed it unlikely for such a war to occur. In 1939, the regular army consisted of seven infantry and two armoured divisions. Two of the infantry divisions had been formed for the repression of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. The Territorial Army was intended to be the primary method of expanding the number of divisions available to the army. During the interwar period, the British government reduced the funding and size of the Territorial Army. By 1936, they had concluded that it could not be modernised or equipped for a European war over the following three-year period and therefore delayed further funding. At the beginning of 1939, the Territorial Army had twelve infantry divisions. Following the German occupation of the remnants of the Czechoslovak state in March 1939, the Territorial Army was ordered to double in size to 24 divisions. By the outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939, some of these divisions had formed while others were being created. On 8 September 1939, the British Army announced that it would raise 55 divisions to be deployed to France, as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), for service against Germany. Thirty-two of these formations were to come from the British Army, and rest from the armies of the British Dominions (for example, the Canadian Army) and the British Indian Army. The goal was to fully equip and deploy 20 divisions within the first year of the war and all 55 divisions within two years. The British contingent was to come from the expanded Territorial Army and the regular army divisions based in the UK. By May 1940, the BEF contained only 13 divisions. During the latter stages of the campaign, the Beauman Division was raised from rear-area personnel. As a result of defeat in the Battle of France and the return of the BEF following the Dunkirk evacuation, the original deployment of divisions was not realised. The 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was lost during the Battle of France and it was later reformed by renaming the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division. After the BEF returned to the UK, four infantry divisions were disbanded to reinforce other formations. The British Army also increased the recruitment for their regiments in Africa (the Nigeria Regiment, the Gold Coast