 Small numbers of AIF personnel also served in other theatres . Australian troops from the 1st Australian Wireless Signal Squadron provided communications for British forces during the Mesopotamian Campaign . They participated in a number of battles , including the Battle of Baghdad in March 1917 and the Battle of Ramadi in September that year . Following the Russian Revolution in 1917 , the Caucasus Front collapsed , leaving Central Asia open to the Turkish Army . A special force , known as Dunsterforce after its commander , Major General Lionel Dunsterville , was formed from hand @-@ picked British officers and NCOs to organise any remaining Russian forces or civilians who were ready to fight the Turkish forces . Some 20 Australian officers served with Dunsterforce in the Caucasus Campaign and one party under Captain Stanley Savige was instrumental in protecting thousands of Assyrian refugees . Australian nurses staffed four British hospitals in Salonika , and another 10 in India . 
