d the
possibility of complications had not suggested itself to any of us. From
the first we had known that Major Downie's case was a critical one, but
our latest word of him before the hospital ship left Helles had been
that "he was getting on better than could be expected," and all had been
hoping for further news of good progress.

Before we left rest camp all ranks underwent two inoculations against
cholera.

Early in August we learned that the Brigade would shortly take over the
extreme left sector at Fusilier Bluff. After a reconnaissance of the
position by Colonel Morrison and the Adjutant, a party of eight officers
and sixteen N.C.O.'s went forward on August 6th to spend a night in the
new firing line. On the way up, as they were passing along the westmost
sector of the Eski line, one of our most promising young
N.C.O.'s--Corpl. W. Wood, "D" Company--was killed by a stray bullet.

This was an historic day on the Peninsula. Fifteen miles up the Aegean
coast the first landing was being made at Suvla Bay. To divert the
enemy's attention and to supplement the advance there and at Anzac, the
29th and 42nd Divisions attacked on our front that afternoon.

In spite of very terrible losses these two divisions gained some ground.
The Turks, however, threw in reinforcements from their reserves
concentrated at Maidos, a force with which they had boastfully
threatened to drive us into the sea. The bulk of this army stemmed the
advance at Suvla, but enough could also be spared for the fight at Cape
Helles to annul our success. Indeed by August 7th only the forward
portion of the Vineyard, between the Krithia and Achi Baba nullahs,
remained in the hands of the 42nd Division as the nett gain of the
previous day's battle.

Our party of officers and N.C.O.'s spent the night at the Border
Barricade sector. Up there on the left they had the pleasure of coming
across our pre-war chaplain, the Rev. J.A. Cameron Reid, who was at that
time attached to the 1st K.O.S.B. They got back to rest camp the
following afternoon, having been compelled to lie low for a
considerable time in the Gully, which had been heavily shelled by the
enemy since sunrise.

The same day our move to the left sector was cancelled, and instead we
were sent up at 8 p.m. to relieve the Chatham and Deal Battalion in the
Eski line and to be in general reserve to the 42nd Division in the
centre sector. On the trek forward two men of "A" Company (Captain D.E.
Bran