 Following the Allied evacuation of Gallipoli , the 25th Battalion returned to Egypt in December 1915 , where Towner rejoined its ranks on 10 January 1916 . He was promoted to sergeant on 1 February , before departing with the battalion at Alexandria the following month to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front . Disembarking at Marseilles , the unit was the first Australian battalion to arrive in France . 
