Second Lieutenant Ironside, landed at Calais with the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (3RTR) on 20 May 1940 in the final phase of the battle for the port.
From Trier, Ironside was moved between Oflag VII-C Laufen (Germany), Stalag XXI-D Poznań (Poland), Oflag V-B Biberach and Oflag VI-B Doessel-Warburg Prisoner of War camps before being sent to Oflag VII-B at Eichstätt, Bavaria.