On 15 August 1916 the 1st Battalion embarked from Rangoon for the Middle East after a farewell ceremony given by the Governor of Burma. Both battalions of the regiment fought in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) from 1916, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of the Germans. The Mesopotamian campaign had started in 1914. Much of the regiment's involvement in the war was relatively quiet but it did take part in a number of engagements including the offensive against Baghdad in 1917 and the last battle of the Mesopotamian campaign in late October 1918, Sharqat.