Passing It On: Fighting the Pashtun on Afghanistan's Frontier by General Sir Andrew Skeen

by Andrew Skeen

A Republished and Annotated Edition of "Passing It Short Talks on Tribal Fighting on the North-West Frontier of India" with new a Forward and Lessons Learned. Republished by the Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Illustrated. From the "This book, originally published as a guide for British lieutenants and captains, demonstrates that improvements in technology-much of it available to both sides - have had only a modest impact on infantry fighting in this rugged terrain. However, it also demonstrates that the key to enhancing basic infantry effectiveness is using the terrain effectively, maintaining force security and understanding the mountain people. General Sir Andrew Skeen spent decades dealing with this frontier. His combat experience in the Afghanistan frontier region was extensive, but he also saw action against the Boxers in China, in Somaliland, Gallipoli and the trenches of the Western Front in World War I. His final field posting was as the Chief of the General Staff of the Army of India. "Passing it on" is about passing on his experience in this turbulent region to the lieutenants and captains who were then dealing with the problems of mountain combat against Pushtun tribesmen. His advice is still relevant to what our soldiers are facing today. The mission of the Foreign Military Studies Office is to esearch and present foreign ideas and perspectives to better understand present and future problems. Occasionally we visit the past to find those ideas and perspectives. This 1932 book is not so much a step backwards as the (re)discovery of a useful map for now and the future. We hope it will be of value to our readers".

Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

Reviews

[Paul Guzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An after action review from Sir Andrew Skeen's experience in Afghanistan demonstrates that although their have been technological advances on both sides, they have had a small impact in this rugged terrain.