ontgomery and Stroud, Lieutenants
Davey, Hargraves, and Carter were taken to the hospital. Captain Menz
also became alarmingly ill and had to be carried away on a stretcher. On
the way down the Dere a shell came along and killed one of his bearers
and wounded the other. He escaped with a bad fall and the loss of the
heel of his boot. A few days later Major J. A. C. Wilson left the
Battalion. He had been obviously suffering from jaundice for some time
but had clung to his command until he had to be ordered to hospital. As
"A" Company had lost both its O.C. and 2nd-in-Command, Lieut. N. F.
Macrae from "D" Company was appointed temporarily to command. Lieut. H.
E. C. Ruddock was selected to carry on as adjutant until the return of
Captain Lamb. Reg. Sergt.-Major P. T. C. Bell was promoted to
commissioned rank.

The weather changed on the 22nd October and turned as cold as the
coldest days in Western Australia, involving bleak conditions in the
trenches at night. On the 27th there was a very unpleasant wind and dust
storm which lasted for hours.

[Illustration: THE Q.M's. STORE OF "A" COMPANY
at Cheshire Ridge.
_Photo. lent by Mr. T. Pritchard._]

The Battalion having been in the firing line for about seven weeks, the
Brigadier ordered the 26th Battalion, which had not yet been in the
trenches, to relieve it. On the 30th October "A" Company of the
Queenslanders and Tasmanians took over from "B" Company of the 28th. On
the following day, however, the return to the Peninsula of the 4th
Brigade being imminent, the order was cancelled. Nevertheless, on the
1st November, "C" Company proceeded to join "B" Company at Taylor's
Hollow (in Bauchop's Hill, just north of Waterfall Gully). "D" Company
followed on the next day and, on the 3rd, Lieut.-Colonel J. M. A.
Durrant, with the 13th Battalion, took over the sector. The Machine Gun
Section was again temporarily detached from the Battalion and joined the
8th Light Horse near Sazli Belt Dere. Whilst there they had a duel with
a Turkish gun and came out victorious--finally calling upon our field
artillery to blow up the enemy's emplacement. This was done very
effectually.

During the month of October the Battalion had suffered a loss of five
killed, four died of wounds, 27 wounded, and 137 sick.

Located at Taylor's Hollow the Battalion now became the divisional
reserve. The 26th Battalion had proceeded to rejoin the 2nd Australian
Division and was followed on the 10th November