page_title: Queen Victoria's Rifles
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Queen Victoria's Rifles / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial Plaque inside the gatehouse to the Citadel at Calais, scene of 30 Brigade's defence in May 1940.
context_page_description: The 9th Battalion, London Regiment was a Territorial Army infantry battalion of the British Army. The London Regiment was formed in 1908 in order to regiment the various Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, and the Queen Victoria's Rifles were one of twenty six units brought together in this way.
context_section_description: At the outbreak of the Second World War, 1/QVR was serving as part of the 1st London Division and was designated a motor-cycle reconnaissance battalion, armed with revolvers instead of rifles. In May 1940, the battalion was transferred to the 30th Infantry Brigade, under Brigadier Claude Nicholson, and was hurriedly sent across the English Channel, but, due to an error, their motor cycles and sidecars were left in England. They fought in the desperate siege of Calais between 23 and 26 May, which bought valuable time for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to be evacuated from Dunkirk. Suffering very heavy losses, most of the battalion were either killed or captured and the battalion had to be reconstituted from scratch.
  After returning to the United Kingdom, in December, the battalion became part of the war-raised 27th Armoured Brigade, then serving under command of the 9th Armoured Division, and was designated as the 7th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps on 1 April 1941.
  The 2nd Battalion was, like 1/QVR originally serving in a motorised reconnaissance role as part of the 2nd London Division, until, in December 1940, it was transferred to help create the 28th Armoured Brigade, then part of the 9th Armoured Division. The battalion was redesignated as the 8th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps the following month.
caption: 30 Brigade memorial plaque inside the gatehouse of Calais Citadel, scene of the epic defence in May 1940.
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