S64430 Brigadier General Raymond Lionel Leane, CB, CMG, DSO, MC, VD

Date of birth	1878-07-12	Australia: South Australia, Prospect
Date and unit at appointment (Officers)	1905	Commissioned as a lieutenant in the 11th (Perth Rifles) Infantry.
Other units	1908	Transferred to the Goldfields Infantry Regiment in Kalgoolie.
Date promoted	1910-11-21	Appointed captain.
Other	1914-08-25	Posted as a Company Commander in the 11th Infantry Battalion with the rank of captain.
Date and unit at appointment (Officers)	1914-08-25	Joined the AIF.
Other units	1915-01-01	Officer commanding C Company.
Date promoted	1915-02-26	Promoted to substantive rank of major and appointed commander of the newly formed the 48th Infantry Battalion.
Other	1915-04-25	One of the first men ashore at Anzac Cove.
Date wounded	1915-06-28	Wounded in the attack on Bolton's Ridge.
Date wounded	1915-07-31	Wounded in the head when an enemy shell struck him following the successful attack on and enemy position that became known as Leane's Trench.
Date promoted	1915-08-05	Promoted to temporary major.
Other units	1915-09-11	Commanded the 11th Battaion.
Date promoted	1915-10-08	Promoted to major.
Date promoted	1915-10-08 - 1915-11-30	Promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel.
Date of honour or award	1916-01-14	Awarded the Military Cross for his leadership, courage and coolness under fire during his attempt to capture Gaba Tepe the previous year.
Other units	1916-02-09	Officer commanding C Company.
Other units	1916-02-21	Temporary Commanding Officer of the 48th Battalion.
Date promoted	1916-02-26	Promoted to the substantive rank of major.
Other units	1916-03-12	Appointed Commanding Officer of the 48th Battalion.
Date promoted	1916-03-12	Promoted to substantive lieutenant colonel.
Date of honour or award	1916-06-03	Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).
Date wounded	1917-10-12	Wounded at Passchendaele and evacuated.
Date of honour or award	1917-12-17	Bar to the Distinguished Service Order.
Other	1918-01	Returned to duty and his battalion.
Date of honour or award	1918-01-01	Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).
Other	1918-04-19	Temporary commanding officer of the 12th Brigade.
Date promoted	1918-04-19	Acting Brigade Commander with the temporary rank of colonel.
Other units	1918-05-22	Returned as commanding officer of the 48th Battalion.
Other	1918-06-01	Temporary Commanding Officer of the 12th Brigade.
Date promoted	1918-06-01	Promoted to sustantive rank of colonel and temporary brigadier general.
Other	1918-11-24 - 1919-03-25	General Officer Commanding the 12th Brigade Headquarters.
Date of honour or award	1919-01-07	French Croix de Guerre.
Other	1919-04-08 - 1919-07-16	General Officer Commanding No. 4 Group Hurdcott.
Date of honour or award	1919-06-03	Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).
Date returned to Australia	1919-09-06
Other	1920-01-03	AIF appointment terminated.
Other	1920-05	Became Chief Commissioner of Police in South Australia.
Other	1921 - 1926	He was placed on the unattached list and commanded the 3rd Infantry Brigade in Adelaide.
Other	1938	Moved to the retired list of officers.
Other	1944	Retired from the police force.
Date of honour or award	1945-06-14	Appointed Knight Bachelor.
Date of death	1962-06-25	Australia: South Australia, Adelaide

Raymond Leane was a member of one of Australia’s most well-known military families and served with distinction in the First World War. He was born on 12 July 1878 at Prospect, South Australia. After school, Leane’s job took him to Western Australia, where he was commissioned in the 11th (Perth Rifles) Infantry Regiment in 1905. Three years previously, while employed as a commercial traveller, he had married Edith Laybourne. In 1908 he began a successful career as a merchant in Kalgoorlie; he also returned to soldiering with the Goldfields Infantry Regiment, in which he was promoted to captain in 1910. Leane enlisted in the AIF within weeks of the First World War’s beginning. He was joined by every male of enlistment age in his extended family and became known as the head of what Charles Bean described as “the most famous family of soldiers in Australian history.” Leane was given command of a company in the 11th Battalion and was among the first ashore at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. In May he distinguished himself in a raid against Turkish positions on Gaba Tepe. The raid was unsuccessful but Leane managed to withdraw and rescue the wounded under heavy fire, winning the Military Cross. He was wounded twice, the second time on 31 July while leading an attack against a Turkish position, soon to be known as “Leane’s Trench”, which he held against strong counter-attacks. He was promoted to temporary major in August and to temporary lieutenant colonel in October. Leane had been given command of his battalion on 11 September and remained on the peninsula until mid-November. Leane’s rank of major was confirmed in February 1916; he was given command of the 48th Battalion and promoted to lieutenant colonel the following month. Serving under him in the battalion were his brother, three nephews, and other relatives, and the 48th became known as the “Joan of Arc Battalion (Made of all-Leanes)”. By the end of 1917, Leane’s unit had fought at Mouquet Farm, Gueudecourt, Bullecourt, Messines, and Passchendaele, where Leane was badly wounded. Returning to duty in January 1918, he commanded the 48th throughout the rest of the war; he reached the temporary rank of brigadier in June. A well-respected commander, brave in combat and concerned for his men, Leane received the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, the French Croix de Guerre, and civilian honours. After the war, Leane served as South Australia’s police commissioner from 1920-44 and received a knighthood on retirement. At the same time he remained in the militia, serving as a lieutenant colonel from 1921-26, finally retiring in 1938 after 12 years on the unattached list. During the Second World War he served in the Volunteer Defence Corps. Leane lived out his retirement in Adelaide, dying there on 25 June 1962.