6th (Service) Battalion, which was formed in County Cork in September 1914 though largely recruited in west Belfast, landed at Le Havre as part of the 47th Brigade in the 16th (Irish) Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front. In just over a week's fighting in the Battle of the Somme in September 1916, the 6th Battalion lost 23 officers and 407 other ranks. On 21 March 1918, the same Battalion was "practically annihilated" during the German spring offensive breakthrough. In one week the battalion lost "22 officers and 618 other ranks". As a result of these heavy losses, the survivors were transferred into the 2nd Battalion, the Leinster Regiment. 1916 Easter Rising In April 1916, during World War 1, in what became known as the Easter Rising, Irish Republican forces in Ireland launched an armed insurrection against the authority of the government of the United Kingdom, with the declared aim of establishing an Irish Republic wholly independent in its sovereign governance from the United Kingdom. In response, the Connaught Rangers and other British Army units were deployed to fight against the paramilitary forces of the "Irish Volunteers". None of the Connaught Rangers were killed in action but one was wounded. A 584-man strong column from the 3rd Battalion Connaught Rangers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel A J Digan DSO, marched on Enniscorthy to fight the rebels who had taken over the town, however on arrival decided not to attack the insurrectionists' positions within the town to avoid turning Enniscorthy into a battlefield. In the days after the insurrection began the Connaughts patrolled the countryside seeking contact with any of those war parties that cared to show themselves, in the process capturing hundreds of prisoners of war and seizing their weapons stocks. A 250 strong force of the Connaughts, under the command of Major H.M. Hutchinson, marched to Ferns on 4 May 1916, and then on to Gorey the next day. A party of 31 Connaught Rangers led by Lieutenant L.C. Badham searched houses in Kinsale on 4 May 1916, and the next day captured a large number of rebels and their weapons. The Connaught Rangers' Column searched houses in New Ross on 9 May 1916 and then at Waterford the next day. The Connaught Rangers Column reached Clonmel on 16 May 1916, searching further residences in the town and capturing another large number of rebels and their