The regiment was sent from its training camp at La Valbonne straight into action at Soissons, Picardy on 11 May 1940. After fighting its way out of encirclement it was broken as a unit by 6 June 1940. By the Armistice the remaining men, only 300 of the 2,800 men that had completedtraining, had reached Limoges in central France.