 Complete the following phrase:  The 2nd Battalion deployed to France on 2 October 1939 and was transferred to the 145th Brigade in the 48th Division in March 1940. This brought it alongside the 5th Battalion in the divisions 144th Brigade, which had arrived in France on 15 January 1940. In May 1940, during the Battle of France, the German breakthrough at Sedan precipitated a retreat to Dunkirk. The 5th Battalion marched in 83 hours with little food or sleep before eventually picking up transport at Tournai where, on 19 May, the 2nd Battalion lost 194 men killed or missing in a matter of minutes to an airstrike. The regiment gained some respite on 20 May, when the two battalions held positions along the River Escaut Scheldt for two days before the British Expeditionary Force resumed its retreat. On 25 May, the 2nd Battalion, having by now suffered 219 casualties, became part of Somer Force. This mixed group of units under the command of Brigadier Nigel Somerset, until recently the 2nd Battalion commanding officer, fortified Cassel on the 