King George. First World War In August 1914, the First World War began. In December, the 1st Battalion was deployed to the Western Front in France as part of the Sirhind Indian Infantry Brigade, attached to 3rd (Lahore) Division. The 1st Battalion's first taste of trench warfare came when they were involved in the defence of Givenchy shortly after. After braving a winter in the trenches, on 10 March 1915 the 1st Battalion took part in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle which lasted until 13 March. In April, the battalion took part in the Second Battle of Ypres, fighting in the subsidiary Battle of St. Julien which began on 24 April and concluded on 4 May. Later that month the battalion took part in the Battle of Festubert and in September the Battle of Loos began, the last major engagement on the Western Front that the 1st Battalion took part in, before being withdrawn from the Western Front. Conditions on the Western Front were very different to those that the regiment had been used to in the sub-continent and they, along with the rest of the Indian Army troops deployed, suffered badly during the winter months. As a result, in December 1915 it was decided that the infantry units of the Indian Corps would be withdrawn from France and sent to other theatres. As a result, the 1st Battalion, along with the rest of the 3rd Division, was sent to Mesopotamia to take part in the campaign against the Ottomans which had begun in 1914. The Sirhind Brigade was given a numerical designation, the 8th Brigade. In 1916, the 1st Gurkhas took part in a number of attempts, including the attack on Dujaila Redoubt in March, to relieve Kut-al-Amara, which had been besieged by the Ottomans since 7 December 1915. Those attempts, however, failed and Kut remained under siege until it surrendered to the Ottomans on 29 April 1916. Following this the regiment took part in the Allied offensive against the Ottomans later that year; this included the effort to recapture Kut, begun in December, which was recaptured in February 1917 and the capital Baghdad which was taken the following month. The 1st Battalion was later moved to Palestine in early 1918. It was involved in the effective Allied offensive against the Ottomans in September, the Battle of Megiddo, and also saw action at the Sharon. Elsewhere, the 2nd Battalion