WW1 broke out while the WDs were on annual camp and they were immediately mobilised.

Their first taste of action was in Gallipoli, where they fought dismounted, taking heavy casualties in the August 1915 attacks at Suvla Bay. They were transferred to Egypt and then to Palestine where they served in the campaign against the Turks. The WDs were involved in fierce fighting, both mounted and dismounted.

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As they were the first formed body of troops to enter Jerusalem, they bear the liberation of that city as a battle honour. For General Allenby's account of the fall of Jerusalem, click here.

In 1917 the WDs were re-roled as machine gunners and served on the western front until the Armistice. For a timeline of the WDs' actions in WW1, click here.