The regiment participated in June 1940 in the Italian invasion of France. The first Italian tankers of World War II were killed in action near the Little St Bernard Pass between France and Italy. In fall 1940 the I Tank Battalion L was sent to North Africa to reinforce Italian units in the Western Desert Campaign. To replace it the regiment raised on 22 December 1940 the VI Tank Battalion M13/40, which was sent immediately to Africa to shore up the crumbling Italian 10th Army, which was retreating under pressure of the British Operation Compass offensive. The VI battalion arrived in Libya in early January 1941 and already by 6 February the battalion had been destroyed in the Battle of Beda Fomm and was declared dissolved.