Major General James Harold Cannan, was an Australian Army brigadier general in the First World War and the Quartermaster General during the Second World War.
Major General James Cannan in 1944
Major General Alexander Godley (right) at Quinn's Post, Anzac with Brigadier General Harry Chauvel (left). Cannan is the officer in his shirt sleeves.
Major General J. E. S. Stevens of the 6th Division (right) greets Lieutenant General John Northcott (left) and Major General J. H. Cannan (second from left) on their arrival at Tadji Airstrip.
15th Battalion (Australia)
The 15th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. Formed in 1914 as part of the all-volunteer Australian Imperial Force from Queensland and Tasmanian recruits, the battalion fought during the Gallipoli Campaign and on the Western Front during the First World War. It was disbanded after the war in 1919, but later re-raised as a part-time Citizens Forces unit based in Queensland in 1921, consisting of a mixture of volunteers and conscripts. Economic pressures and limited manpower resulted in the battalion being amalgamated with other battalions a couple of times during the inter-war years. In mid-1939, as rising tensions in Europe led to an expansion of the Australian military, the battalion was re-formed in its own right. During the Second World War the 15th Battalion was mobilised for wartime service and initially undertook defensive duties in Australia before taking part in the fighting against the Japanese in New Guinea and Bougainville in 1943–1945. The battalion was disbanded in 1946 and never re-raised.
15th Battalion veterans march through Brisbane City on Anzac Day during 1954.
'A' Company, 15th Battalion, marching through Melbourne on 17 December 1914.
Henry Dalziel, the battalion's sole Victoria Cross recipient, received the award for his actions around Hamel on 4 July 1918.
The 29th Brigade on parade at Lae on 8 March 1944. The 15th Battalion is on the right in the background.