 In July 1915 Blamey was given a staff appointment as a General Staff Officer , Grade 2 ( GSO2 ) , and in September he was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel and joined the staff of the newly formed 2nd Division in Egypt as its Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General ( AA & QMG ) – the senior administrative officer of the division . Its commander , Major General James Gordon Legge , preferred to have an Australian colonel in this post as he felt that a British officer might not take such good care of the troops . The 2nd Division Headquarters embarked for Gallipoli on 29 August 1915 , but Blamey was forced to remain in Egypt as he had just had an operation for haemorrhoids . He finally returned to Anzac on 25 October 1915 , remaining for the rest of the campaign . 
