The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army. One of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, its home depot in Tralee. With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 the immediate need for a considerable expansion of the British Army resulted in the formation of the New Army under Lord Kitchener. The war target was seventy divisions in all, the New Army to have thirty volunteer divisions separate and under Army Order 324, as additional from the Regular Army, with a planned period of service of at least three years. On 7 August a general United Kingdom-wide call for 100,000 volunteers aged 19–30 was issued. The battalions were to be distinguished by the word 'Service' after their number. The first new battalions were raised as units of Kitchener's new K1 Army Group, which led to the formation of the 6th and 7th (Service) Battalions, Royal Munster Fusiliers (RMF) comprising the 30th Brigade of the 10th (Irish) Division, under the command of General Bryan Mahon. The 8th and 9th RMF (Service) Battalions followed as units of the 16th (Irish) Division's 47th and 48th Brigades, part of Kitchener's second new K2 Army Group, the 16th Division under the command of Major General William Hickie . In the course of the war heavy losses suffered by the Regular RMF Battalions caused the new service battalions to be disbanded and absorbed in turn by the regular battalions, the last on 2 June 1918 when the 8th (Service) RMF was amalgamated with the 1st (Regular) RMF Battalion. 6th, 7th (Service) Battalions Curragh Both battalions were formed at Tralee Depot, Co. Kerry in August 1914 and moved to the Curragh as the 30th Brigade of their division for initial training and receiving recruits from the recruiting districts. An early problem was to find 29 sufficiently experienced officers for the battalions. By the time they transferred to Basingstoke England in May they had a variety of regular, retired and reserve officers designated from other battalions. Both battalions had their ranks further diversified, receiving surplus recruits from other British regiments, such as the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers to the 6th RMF, Ulster recruits then numbering Munster recruits. Gallipoli After very hard training, both battalions embarked on 9 July 1915 from Liverpool, disembarking on 19 July in Greece at Mudros on the Aegean island of Lemnos. Disease reduced battalion strength from 1000