The 1st Battalion, which was a Regular Army unit stationed in Dublin at the outbreak of war in August 1914, was one of the first units to be moved to France where it became part of the 13th Brigade in the 5th Division. Among its first major engagements were the Battle of Mons on 23 August and the Battle of Le Cateau three days later. In October, the battalion made a heroic stand at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle; being the only unit not to fall back. Out of 750 men, only 300 commanded by a lieutenant and a second lieutenant survived. Apart from a brief period from December 1917 to April 1918, when it was moved with the 5th Division to the Italian Front, the 1st Battalion was stationed on the Western Front for the duration of the war.