The Defence of Duffer’s Drift

The Defence of Duffer’s Drift – E.D. Swindon

When Major General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton was a Captain, he served in South Africa during the Boer War. In 1904, he published this short description of small unit tactics of the regular army versus local irregulars or guerillas. 

The book features six responses to one scenario. A young lieutenant has command of a 50-man platoon. His job is to hold Duffer's Drift, the only ford (river crossing) for wheeled traffic for miles around, until additional troops can relieve his unit. Both he and his men have plenty of martial ardor. Young and confident, he recalls his course work and thinks "Now if they had given me a job like fighting the Battle of Waterloo, of Gettysburg, or Bull Run, I knew all about that, as I had crammed it up...." But in six dreams, he related how every time he and his troops are wounded, killed, captured, utterly defeated. Finally, he is able to do his duty and get relieved. 

I am not trained or skilled in thinking through small unit tactics and the uses of position and terrain to mount an effective defence. The maps helped a great deal in the 0895293234 edition. What impressed me was the willingness to learn on the part of the narrator, giving a lie to the oft-repeated barb about the phrase “military intelligence” having an internal fallacy. Any book that encourages critical thinking, in our scheming chaotic world, will get a thumbs-up from me.