"U" Coy had by this time become part of the 4th Battalion, the Gordon Highlanders and at the outbreak of the First World War was mobilised and sent to France; the only University contingent to go. The story of "U" Coy as a fighting unit is excellently told by Rule in his "Students Under Arms." Their record was magnificent but their casualties high. Their valour could not justify a policy which allowed so many highly educated young men to serve in the ranks of a combatant unit.