Attendance at the annual camp in July 1939 was about 1,000 yeomen, compared to some 300 the previous year. On the outbreak of Second World War, the 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was equipped with Vickers Mk. IV and Mk. VI light tanks and initially served in home defence. It was later re-equipped with Valentine tanks and earmarked for service in North Africa as part of the 6th Armoured Division, but a last minute change resulted in the unit remaining in the UK as a training regiment which, by the war's end, had trained over 5,000 officers and men. As the war was nearing its conclusion the regiment was equipped with Churchill tanks and prepared for service in the Far East, but following VJ Day it was re-equipped with Sherman tanks and Greyhound armoured cars and sent instead to Austria as part of the army of occupation in December 1945. The 3rd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was actually a troop of one officer and 30 men. It served variously as a training regiment, trials unit and decoy, constructing dummy tanks to deceive the enemy about the disposition and strength of British armour. After completing its training in the UK, the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars deployed to Egypt in October 1941. By the middle of November it had assembled south-west of Mersa Matruh, close to the Libyan border, as part of the 22nd Armoured Brigade attached to the 7th Armoured Division, the "Desert Rats". At this stage the regiment comprised 43 officers and 585 other ranks organised into three tank squadrons – F, G and H – with a regimental HQ and a rear echelon component responsible for supply. It was equipped with 52 Crusader tanks, 10 scout vehicles and 112 wheeled vehicles. In Operation Crusader, the 7th Armoured Division was tasked with locating and destroying the Axis armour, and the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was the lead element of the 22nd Armoured Brigade's advance. On 19 November, the brigade encountered the Italian Ariete Division, and in the ensuing action at Bir el Gubi it lost 40 tanks. Of the brigade's three regiments, the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars fared the worst. The regiment overran some Italian anti-tank positions, but without infantry support it could not take their surrender. The Italians subsequently returned to their guns and caught the regiment's tanks in a crossfire. The Crusader's armour could be defeated at ranges of while its gun was ineffective at ranges greater than , and at one stage the regiment was outnumbered five or six to one.