The Defence of Duffer's Drift

by Ernest Dunlop Swinton

First published in 1907, The Defence of Duffer's Drift is a classic essay on small unit tactics based on author Ernest Dunlop Swinton's experiences in the Boer War in South Africa. In a series of dreams, Swinton's character Lieutenant Backsight Forethought works through a number of possible approaches to defending a piece of land known as the Drift. Each time, he makes fatal errors, but with each successive dream, Forethought corrects his previous mistakes and learns new lessons. The resulting work is an accessible, insightful look at small unit tactics and leadership that is as useful today as it was in the early 20th century. This edition also includes The Battle of Booby's Bluffs by Major Single List.

Genres: Military Fiction, History, War, Military History, Leadership, Nonfiction, Africa

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1904

About the author

Major General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, KBE, CB, DSO, RE was a military writer and British Army officer. Swinton is credited with influencing the development and adoption of the tank by the British during the First World War. He is also known for popularizing the term "no-mans land". He published several books of non-fiction and fiction including two books under the pseudonym O'le Luk-Oie.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles van Buren

TOP 1000 REVIEWER

5.0 out of 5 stars
Tactical training monograph

July 5, 2019

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

Review of free Kindle edition
A Public Domain Book
Publication date: March 17, 2011
Language: English
ASIN: B004SQTCWY

This little monograph was published in Vol. I. April, 1905 No. 4. JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES INFANTRY ASSOCIATION. Written by British officer Ernest Dunlop Swinton of later fame in the development, naming and adoption of tanks. This is neither a story nor a history of an actual event. Rather it was written for the edification and instruction of young officers. Despite its age, much of the tactical information is still useful. One thing which a modern American officer should notice right away is the lack of consultations with reliable NCO's. I suppose that just wasn't done or at least not acknowledged in the British Army of the time

There are no illustrations or maps in this free Kindle edition.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose it is about time I got around to adding the club’s namesake book. The Defence of Duffer’s drift is the origin of the tactical narrative genre where a fictional tactical scenario is used to impart a series of lessons learned. The Defence of Duffer’s drift has been used to teach junior leaders how to conduct a tactical appreciation (otherwise known as the estimate).

Published in 1904, the author was Captain (Later Major-General) Ernest Swinton who would go on to be main proponent of the development of the tank during the First World War. (Demonstrating how much of an innovator he was).

Duffer’s drift follows a junior officer charge with defending a key river crossing during the Boer War. He has a series of six dreams where the defence of his position plays out. After each dream he absorbs the lessons from the failures in the dream and incorporates them into his plan. By the sixth dream he had developed a sounds tactical plan.

Many of the lessons seem obvious or common sense to the soldier of today but may have been novel to a generation not yet comfortable with employing the tactics required in a world that had only recently developed reliable and accurate rifles. Swinton was looking to pass on the tactical lessons of the Boer War.
Here are some of the key lessons from the dreams:
• Set a priority of work and don’t put off preparations;
• You can control terrain with fire, rather than physically occupying it;
• Camouflage your positions and incorporate dummy positions for deception;
• Practice Operational security, don’t let passers-by or locals observe your preparations;
• Cover from sight is not equal to cover from fire, dig in;
• Consider dead ground and take measure to ensure the enemy can’t use it;
• View the Ground from the Enemy point of view;
• Protect your flanks and avoid being enfiladed;
• Place kill zones where the enemy must go to achieve his objective or attack your position

Duffer’s Drift has spawned many other tactical narratives that imitates its style where a junior leader uncovers lessons learned about their tactical plan through dreams. Among them: The Battle of Booby’s Bluff, The Defence of Bowler Ridge, Duffer’s Downtown, The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the Emma Gees (My personal favourite), and several others.

If you’re looking to find The Defence of Duffer’s drift online it can be found here: http://regimentalrogue.com/duffersdri...

[Checkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was a young 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. It was on our reading list at the Armor Officer Basic Course at Fort Knox, Kentucky. That was twenty-two years ago. Over the years I have since read it many many times. It's a short book in which a young British Army officer is left in charge of a small detachment of soldiers and told to defend a river crossing site (the drift in "Duffer's Drift") in South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Oh did I mention it's a dream?

Anyway the young officer has a series of dreams (within his dream - really!) in which he makes mistakes. At the end of each dream he lists his good points and his bad points. Eventually he gets everything right and is a hero. Sadly he then wakes up and it's back to reality.

Anyway Duffers Drift was written as a primer for young Army officers. It's still in print to this date. For a young officer or NCO in 2013 it can still be useful. Though technology has changed the basics are still the basics.

For the layman it's an amusing and interesting look into the British military establishment of the time and can give you an impression of how the Brits viewed the Boer War as well as the Boers themselves.

While something of a curiosity it's also considered a military classic. A very quick read, but interesting and memorable. I still have the copy that I purchased at Fort Knox in 1991. It's worth holding onto.

[Peterb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Defense of Duffer's Drift is a fascinating little book that anyone can read in a short afternoon. Written by Capt. Ernest Dunlop Swinton around the dawn of the 20th century, it is a meditation on small unit tactics, based on experience gained in the Boer War.

The most fascinating thing about the book is its insouciant tone. The protagonist, Lieutenant Backsight Forethought, has a dream in which he is given command of 50 men and told to defend the ford to a river. Arriving with his men, he sets up a perimeter, is generally irresponsible, and the unit is subsequently attacked by the enemy with disastrous results.

The next night, Lieutenant BF has the same dream — only this time, he remembers what he did wrong the last time, and so corrects those mistakes. Again, his unit is attacked and is lost, although slightly less ignominiously than before. This Groundhog Day scenario plays itself out six times. Each time it is replayed, BF learns something new, and helpfully summarizes it for the reader, ("Do not, if avoidable, be in tents when bullets are ripping through them; at such times a hole in the ground is worth many tents.")

Dunlop obviously intended the book for a military audience; it reads as though he wrote it for his friends. The prose is conversational, easygoing, and unpretentious. Whether the tactical lessons in the book are still valuable and operative I am not qualified to judge. But as a method of getting into the mindset of a turn-of-the-century British infantry officer, it's quite effective.

The book is available for free as an eBook from Project Gutenberg here.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presumably, most readers of Duffer's Drift are interested in military strategy. I was primarily interested in this as a description of learning from mistakes, however. Interesting.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

military book. Teaches you about ORM "Operational Risk Management" to ask yourself what can go wrong and figure out how to fix it before it happens.
I couldn't put this down once I started it. Each dream will have you wondering "what was he thinking!!??"
It took a lot of mistakes, lessons learned, and lives to get it down. Think it out before acting it out. I found a copy of this online i have printed it and am mailing bits and pieces to my son in bootcamp :).

Free download:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rc...

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a series of six dreams, the protagonist learns how to lead 50 men in the defense of a river during the Boer War.

Why I started it: I checked it out when I realized that it was under 100 pages and I wanted to knock it off my professional reading list.

Why I finished it: I read it in under an hour, it was quick, coherent and educational. If only all military tactics books were like this.

[Bruno Goncalves · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book served as inspiration for Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill, which served as inspiration for the Hollywood film "The Edge of Tomorrow".

The Defense of Duffer's Drift is deservedly still considered West Point reading material.

[William Bahr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catch this very worthwhile Drift!

This is the best Kindle edition of “Defence of Duffer’s Drift” I’ve seen. Unlike other versions, it includes About the Author, Background Information (Boer War), Preface, 22 Lessons Combined List, and Glossary.

This military classic is a highly readable allegory of small unit (squad, platoon, company) combat tactics. A decent, brief overview of the book is available in Wikipedia.

But to be quick about it: British Army Lieutenant Backsight Forethought (BF) commands a reinforced platoon of 50 men in the 1899-1902 Boer War, which pits the British against the Boers, descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa. BF’s Colonel commands him to hold a drift (river ford) against the Boers at all costs, not letting any Boers pass. BF can expect relief in 3-4 days. The terrain BF encounters is a ford at a 180-degree bend in the river with a nearby mountain and a South African native village on a hill. Will BF be a duffer, an incompetent, awkward, stupid person or not? Only reading the story will tell!

The allegory is essentially the author, a captain at the time of publication in 1904 (on his way to becoming a major general), teaching 22 tactical lessons in a series of 6 dreams. As the dreams progress, BF learns from his previous mistakes, and his subsequent changes make it harder and harder to guess what fatal mistakes may be in his ever-improving plans. What we do see, however, is the presumably university-educated, self-congratulating BF eventually gain martial common sense and become enlightened by the dream-school of hard knocks.

Of special interest is the inclusion of a paragraph of currently politically incorrect material. Also included are a couple of paragraphs on possible tactics that would currently be war crimes. But write no letters to the publisher—the author is long dead.

Not to miss is that the book is full of appropriate verses from English poems, especially from Kipling, and dollops of dry humor. To save you some trouble, one Latin phrase the author includes (“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes”) translates to “I fear Greeks bearing gifts.”

Bottom-line, the book is a worthy, enjoyable read of dream-world war-gaming action that has taught commanders small unit tactics for over a hundred years. Highly recommended!

Of possible interest: Strategy Pure and Simple: Essential Moves for Winning in Competition and Cooperation and George Washington's Liberty Key: Mount Vernon's Bastille Key - the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul, a best-seller at Mount Vernon. Character is Key for Liberty!

[Wayland Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really odd book. It sort of like the movie Groundhog Day. The main character, a soldier in the Boer war, fights the same battle over and over, learning lessons from each failed encounter until he gets it right.

It's sort of a combination of military instruction and fantasy, I guess. It's a weird and very short book.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny and painless primer on basic defensive infantry tactics - this is somewhat dated, since it refers to the Boer War at the turn of the 20th century, but is still useful and interesting for professional soldiers and anyone else interested in military science.

[Arunanshu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a great example of learning through experience. Even the basic or simple tasks may be flawed.
This also teaches the gap between the theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. You have to select and apply your knowledge based on your circumstances !!
- A

[Christopher Litsinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

if you can get over the casual endorsement of war crimes and the extreme racism tossed around this is a well crafted way to demonstrate the basics of ground combat tactics.
It's certainly an interesting product of its time.

[victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

A must read for every gentlemen officer in the armed forces especially young lieutenants. takes you back in time but still very relevant.

[Martin Empson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of historical interest.

[Paz Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

אני חושב שראוי לשים את הספר הזה עם הספרים העיונים. ממש התלהבתי מהקונספט הסיפורי העוטף מעבר עיוני על עקרונות לחימה הגנתיים. אתזכר אותך למקרה שתשכח בעתיד - המפקד אמון על הגנת מוצב מרוחק, על מעבר טבעי יחיד של נהר בקצה החזית. יש לו 50 חיילים והוא צריך להתגונן מפני אויב בגודל לא ידוע, עם כוח לא ידוע, והוא אף לא יודע אם הוא צפוי להגיע או שלא יגיע כלל. הסיפור מתרחש ב״כפר החלומות״ בו הוא חולם חלומות רצופים על הגנת מעברות פתיים. מכל איטרציה הוא מסיק מסקנות ולומד לחלום הבא אשר מתרחש בדיוק באותו מקום עם צוות אחר אך בגודל זהה של אנשים.
ראשית, ההקדמה. אני חושב שהיא הולמת ונותנת בדיוק את הרקע הדרוש כדי להיכנס ישר אל הספר (לפחות במהדורה שברשותי). היא מסבירה על רקע הכתיבה שהוא מלחמת הבורים, על סוגי הנשקים בשימוש (שראפנל לדוגמא) והיא גם נותנת אודות כללים על המחבר.
הספר מספק לנו מפה הכרחית בשביל להבין את המתאר הפיזי בו מתרחש הסיפור, וזה כל כך חשוב ומלהיב אותי. גם הציטוט בתחילת כל חלום, מוסיף לאווירה אם כי הכתיבה שלהם ומשמעותם אינה ברורה במיוחד במבט ראשון.
הספר עצמו, הספר מסופר מנקודת מבטו של המפקד, מקבל ההחלטות והוא מתמצה לאורך הספר בדיון פנימי של המפקד הכולל מחשבות ותחושות המתבטאות בפקודות לחיילים. כל חלום הוא מגבש אסטרטגיה ומגבש עמדה, אשר מבוססת על עקרונות הנבנים לאורך הספר, בנוגע לאופן פיזור הכוחות, מוסר עבודה וסדר, ניצול השטח, התמודדות עם האוכלוסייה המקומית, ואופן בניית ההגנות בהתאם לנשק האויב. כל חלום אנו עדים לחסרונות בגישת המפקד - מה הוא לא ניצל כמו שצריך, התמודדות לקויה עם האוכלוסייה המקומית, פספוס ההתייחסות לנשק היריב, וכו׳ וכו׳.
המעבר בין הסיפוריות שבהכנות לקרב ובקרב למסקנות הקונקרטיות מקל הן על ההבנה של המסקנות והן על הקריאות של הספר כולו - הוא זורם במיוחד לספר עיון.
זה ספר מומלץ להרהור, פשוט לבחון את הסיטואציות ולחשוב מה היית עושה, למה היית שם לב ולמה לא, לעבור על המסקנות ולהבין איך אתה מיישם אותן בהווה בתור חובב אשר לא רואה את שדה הקרב אלא במשחקים ובראשך בלבד.
זה ספר שפתח לי את הראש ובא לי לקרוא אותו שוב, אנסה לחפש עוד ספרים בסגנון.

[Blair Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Defence of Duffer's Drift was a recommended professional read for work. Lieutenant Backsight Forethought is tasked with defending Duffer’s Drift. He has six dreams and at the end of each, he takes lessons learned and applies them to the next dream. First written in 1904, these small-unit tactics are still valuable today.

“Upon an evening after a long and tiring trek, l arrived at Dreamdorp. The local atmosphere, combined with a heavy meal, is responsible for the following nightmare, consisting of a series of dreams. To make the sequence of the whole intelligible, it is necessary to explain that though the scene of each vision was the same, by some curious mental process I had no recollection of the place whatsoever. In each dream the locality was totally new to me, and I had an entirely fresh detachment. Thus, I had not the great advantage of working over familiar ground. One thing, and one only, was carried on from dream to dream, and that was the vivid recollection of the general lessons previously learnt. These finally produced success.”
-Ernest Swinton

[Mansoor Azam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute classic from Dunlop Swinton, who retired as a Major General from the British Army. May be not in a literary sense but in practical sense. A must keep for all the junior level officers.

Dunlop served in Boer war and this book is the sum total of all he or his brethren learnt hard way at the hands of Boers. Today, with the onslaught of asymetric warfare with no clear foes or trenches this work has again become quint essential read for all junior officers.

It comprises of six dreams of a subaltren with a duty to hold Duffer's Drift alongside a reinforced platoon. The dreams have deep messages for any officer entrusted with such duty and form the Do's and Don't s in such a scenario.

A must read

[Frans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written at the time of the Boer War, this is still rightfully classed as a classic quick tactical guide for an infantry platoon/company commander (it is still listed as required reading at quite a number of military staff colleges).

The guidance is in the form of a recurring dream about a defensive small unit action on the South African veldt - but where each successive iteration of the dream has tactical improvements over each previous failure until victory is achieved in the last dream. Think of it as the Boer War's version of Groundhog Day...

While there definitely are some anachronisms (particularly given the Victorian era and weapons - and the English view of indigenous populations at the time), it still has relevance as it encourages the logical consideration of possible threats and prompt action in ensuring the security of a given location.

[Miltiadis Michalopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for a wargamer and a boer war enthusiast. There are many wargame scenarios in this wonderful essay...

[Tric]

Almost 20 years ago an officer took an interest in my military career. He gave me many books to read. This happened to be one of them. I think I need to read this again to see how the book feels now with all my years of experience.

[Austin Glang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duffers Drift yields an interesting historical perspective on the education of military officers. Set in the Boer war late in the 18th century, a British infantry lieutenant (named "Backsight Forethought, cleverly) realizes how lacking his officer education had been in its focus on corps-level movements, operations, and logistics. In a series of nightmares, he relives again and again the same engagement, each time learning something from his errors about the usage of terrain, employment of observation posts, or the construction of a defensive position.

I did not find many of the lessons new, primarily because they are all part and parcel of any officer-making program's curriculum now. That was this book's achievement - to push junior officer education towards small unit tactics. That is why today every Army cadet is thrown a Ranger Handbook and Infantry Platoon and Squad FM, and taught light infantry tactics before ever being assigned a branch.

It is worth noting that some of Lt. Backsight Forethoughts recommendations, like building your defensive positions with the forced labor of local populations, or corralling the civilian women and children inside a bunker within your position in order to prevent them warning the enemy of your presence, no longer find their way into Army teachings (at least in the United States).

The primary lessons of Duffers Drift are still taught in officer curriculums, though they find their locutions in the straightforward language of sanctioned doctrine (or in the case of the Ranger HB, "doctrine"). What makes this 110 year old book worth reading today is precisely its antiquated narration of those same lessons. Lt. Backsight Forethought's revelations about deadspace (his poor reading of the terrain allows the enemy to sneak up to his lines undetected underneath his fields of fire), for example, teach in the format of a story the same principle. Perhaps this better lends itself to remembering the pitfalls of deadspace and the importance of understanding terrain better than wrote memorization of doctrinal definitions (not that doctrine is without its place). This would then be why Duffers Drift lives on in modern interpretations from more recent wars, such as "Nightmare on Wazidi Street", which, following the same format, communicates lessons for small unit commanders in modern wars.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliantly written book for the junior military leaders.

[Snowfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusingly written, this book has for the most part aged well. The successive dreams metaphor actually fits well with something many of my generation know - reloading save games repeatedly in video/computer games until you figure out how to solve the scenario. It's still good, though the extremely harsh tactics that are recommended for dealing with civilians somewhat ring false even for the time period. (Seriously, round up everyone, threaten to kill them, execute whatever livestock you can't steal, impress local blacks into doing menial labor? What if no attack had come? You'd have made your side well-hated for some time in the area and guaranteed they'd be thrilled to shelter the enemy later.)

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

I orginally read this as part of the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Ft. Benning back in the mid-80's. At 72 pages (and with few multi-syllable words), most of the us 11B's were able to struggle through it - though a comic book version would have probably worked better. All kidding aside, it was a great learning tool for illustrating to junior officer that maybe college didn't teach us everything we need to know. I really appreciated that the POV character would dream in tactics so I didn't have to. I recommend reading a history of Rorke's Drift and/or a history of Spion Kop as companions to Duffers Drift for a better taste of reality on small unit defense failures and successes in the Victorian era.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I'm remembering the background of this book correctly (I first read it a number of years ago), the officer training offered by the British Army at the time where this book is set was all at the Division and higher level - nothing at all at for the Brigade, Battalion, Company, or Platoon level. This whole book is about an action at the Platoon level, and provides a lot of lessons on how best to work with a platoon. Again, if I'm remembering correctly, it was hailed as something that should be read by the conscientious junior officer.

In any event, the method of teaching the lessons (through a sequence of dreams) is imaginative and holds the attention. The lessons being taught are also very applicable.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

No wonder this book is still used by the British, Canadian, and U.S. military forces. It has even been updated to cover Support Battalions in the U.S. military as well as a similar format for "lessons learned" by the U.S. in Iraq. A nice quick read that gives the casual reader a feel of what it was like during the Boer War in South Africa.

[Luke Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

so, for some reason someone linked me to a reading list for NCOs. I think 'matterhorn' was one, which was excellent... this was one, which was, I dunno, kinda heavy on the didactic. I mean, certainly, it was an entertaining read, a very well done book, but it doesn't hold up to the work of Marlantes.

[JP Aycox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read "The defense of hill 781" prior to reading this book. It is a good book to give you an idea of how to open your eyes to different scenarios for a defensive situation. How to look at all angles of your position and to put you and your men I'm the best position for prosperity.

[Cal Faulkner · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a short read, easily dispatched in an afternoon by a dedicated reader. In essence, it is a study of the proper execution of a defense against a numerically superior enemy. A must read for military leaders, officers and NCOs alike, and an entertaining read for anyone with a spare afternoon.