 Following the outbreak of the First World War, Crake enlisted into the Hampshire Regiment and served on the Western Front from July 1915 to June 1917.Subsequently, he was selected for officer training and was commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment on 27 November 1917.In April 1918, he returned to the front, joining the 6th Bedfordshire, however the following month this unit was broken up and absorbed by 1/1st battalion, the Hertfordshire Regiment.