The battalion arrived in France on 11 August 1916, where it fought as part of the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war. The battalion took part in the Battle of the Somme in October 1916, the Vimy Ridge in April 1917, and fought at Passchendaele. During the Battle of Vimy Ridge, Pte. John George Pattison of the 50th Battalion CEF was awarded the Empire's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross, for his heroic actions on 10 April 1917, storming a German machine-gun nest.