The Brigade mobilised in August 1914 and deployed to France in April 1915. In early May, the Brigade were the first Territorial field gunners to engage in the Ypres fighting in the Second Battle of Ypres. A reorganisation of Field brigades in 1916 saw the 4th Durham Battery transferred to 250 (Northumbrian Brigade) as D/250 Battery, the 5th Durhams going to 251 Brigade, D/251 Battery. These units would go on to take part in the Battles of the Somme, Arras and Passchendaele, before the final battles of 1918.