 The first action the 2nd Battalion was involved in was during the Race to the Sea when they fought at the Battle of Armentières.They relieved greatly reduced battalions of Lincolnshire Regiment and the Royal Scots Fusiliers, which had just fought in the Battle of the Marne, and received their first casualties (three killed and eleven wounded) that night from German artillery.The 2nd Battalion along with the 1st Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment) in a fast reconnaissance advanced and took the village of Radinghem on 18 October before coming under fierce machine gun fire.