The 1/7th Battalion landed in France in February 1915 with the rest of the 46th Division. The battalion saw heavy fighting at the Battle of Hohenzollern Redoubt – a subsidiary action of the Battle of Loos – which was their first major action of the war. The battalion received its first Victoria Cross (VC) when Temporary Captain Geoffrey Vickers was awarded the VC – the highest award for bravery in the face of the enemy – for his actions at Hohenzollern on 14 October. The battalion was involved in the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916 and the brigade they were part of sustained very severe casualties in the Attack on the Gommecourt Salient.