Allegiance United Kingdom Rank General officer Service/branch British Army | Died February 18, 1935 Name Andrew Skeen | |
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Commands held 3rd (Abbottabad) Indian Infantry Brigade
Commander of the Kohat Kurram Force
Tochi and Derajat Columns
Kohat District
Peshawar District
Southern Command, India Battles/wars World War I
Third Anglo-Afghan War Books Passing it on: Short Talks on Tribal Fighting on the North-west Frontier of India Awards Order of the Bath, Order of the Indian Empire, Order of St Michael and St George Battles and wars World War I, Third Anglo-Afghan War | ||
Andrew skeen rugby highlights part 1
General Sir Andrew Skeen, KCB, KCIE, CMG (20 January 1873 – 18 February 1935) served in the British Indian Army, rising to the position of Chief of the General Staff in India.
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Military career
Skeen served on the North-West Frontier of India from 1897 to 1898 taking part in operations of the Malakand Field Force. He was deployed to China in 1900 and East Africa from 1902 to 1904 where he took part in operations in Somaliland.
He served in World War I as a Staff officer to General William Birdwood, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps taking part in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. He was mentioned in dispatches with regard to reinforcing Anzac Cove, in full view and reach of the enemy, prior to the Battle of Sari Bair.
"The preparation of the ambush was treated as a simple matter by the services therein engaged, and yet I much doubt whether any more pregnant enterprise than this of landing so large a force under the very eyes of the enemy, and of keeping them concealed there three days, is recorded in the annals of war." – General Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton.
For his service at Gallipoli he was awarded CMG and French Croix de Guerre. He went on to be Director of Military Operations at India Army HQ in 1916 and then Deputy Chief of General Staff, Indian Army in 1917.
He became Commander of the 3rd (Abbottabad) Indian Infantry Brigade and then Commander of the Kohat Kurram Force in which capacity he took part in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.
He served in Waziristan on the North-West Frontier of India from 1919 to 1920 as Commander, Tochi and Derajat Columns. He was then appointed Commander, Kohat District, India in 1921, Commander, Peshawar District, India in 1922 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, India in 1923. Finally he became Chief of the General Staff in India in 1924, and appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1925 New Year Honours, before retiring in 1929.