 In October , the Māori Battalion was attached to " <unk> " , under Dittmer 's command , along with a squadron of tanks , a squadron of cavalry and a medium machine gun company . The following month , with an invasion now considered unlikely , the battalion returned to Aldershot for the winter , remaining there for two months . During this time limited training was undertaken , although upon invitation the battalion fielded a rugby team against a Welsh side at Langley Park , losing 12 – 3 . Later in the month , the battalion received the order to begin preparing for redeployment to Egypt and an advance party was dispatched in mid @-@ December . On 7 January 1941 the rest of the battalion left for the Middle East , embarking from Liverpool on the Athlone Castle . 
