After witnessing the carnage of the Somme offensive of 1916, Finnigan's battery was one of those sent to assist the Italians after their reverses at Caporetto. By 1918, however, the battery had returned to Northern France to help stall the last great German offensive of the war. Finnigan also fought at the battle of Vimy Ridge, and was gassed in Passchendaele. In much later life, Alfred did not speak much of the war, but his great-nephew Mark recalls that one of the things that upset Alfred greatly was the death and suffering to the horses, as he was a great animal lover.