A must read manual in small unit tactics... highly entertaining.

books:

	• The Defence of Duffer's Drift E. D. Swinton Avery, 1986 - 72 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A must read manual in small unit tactics... highly entertaining.

For once a book that makes you THINK.
To say the example is from the Boer war period (1900) and that the principles exposed are still useful today will give you an idea of how good this little book is...
I've been a military reader all my life (I even did a compulsory military service) and this is on my top ten.
I must admit my interest in war is more concentrated in earlier periods... and the introduction of modern weapons and khaki is my personal limit (mass murder and carpet bombing I find hard to digest)... of course this is pretty silly of me (war has never been "gentle"... but I'll cling to my romantic approach to the subject).

But getting back to the point, the alternatives, thought provoking questions, and scenarios provided by this little gem DID impress me a lot!, I must confess that after years of wargaming and reading about war I committed all the possible mistakes in my deployments and anticipating what...

So the lecture is really a "come back to earth" experience.
A brilliant book, recommended even for crime (is it not a crime to cause the dead of your soldiers because of your negligence?) and mystery aficionados and not exclusively for military buffs.

ADB

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A Tactical Decision Game at it's Finest

Marine officers are often required to read this book during The Basic School (the six month infantry-focused training all lieutenants undergo after OCS or the Naval Academy). I have read that some Army schools also list it as required reading. Swinton takes a simple issue, the defense of a small swatch of land during entrusted to a young officer, and uses dream sequences to illustrate shortcomings of various tactical approaches to the problem. The officer realizes via hindsight the solutions to each problem and the reader becomes engaged in a sort of Monday-morning quarterbacking of his methods. Just when you think you have the answer, Swinton tears your theory to pieces with the next report of failure. After reading all of the scenarios, one realizes that the answer was so simple and some basic but careful analysis would yield the answer. That is the heart and core of tactics. Making a quick decision with limited information but moderate knowledge in order to come up with a 90% solution. Not only is this book a must-read, it yields new lessons every time I go back to it. It's one of those books you buy and come back to every few years. Highly recommended for the military historian, NCO or junior officer.

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What combat experience costs!

Hypothetical Lt Backsight Forethought has 50 men and a mission to hold a drift in South African territory during the Boer War of 1899-1902, and he starts his mission fresh from officer training and being totally unaware of the realities of combat. In the first trial he gets beaten really bad but he analyzes his faults and learn from them. He also gets beaten in his second, third, fourth and fifth trial, every time making different mistakes which the enemy does not forgive. Finally, when he has a sixth chance to re-fight the battle he puts up a splendid performance making his opponent to pay dearly and holding the drift until friendly reinforcements arrive. It is a very enjoyable little book and although it was written a hundred years ago it is still very useful for anyone who wants to learn about the core of tactical prowess in infantry battle.

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Enjoyable Small-Unit Leader Primer

A perfect primer for every small-unit leader and above. Learn guerilla tactics and how to counter them from the series mistakes in a series of dreams of another young Lt. The story is a fast-paced and entertaining story and provides lessons learned by real combat experience. Though the setting is the Anglo-Boer war, the lessons are universal and well thought out. An enjoyable primer on small unit leadership of counterinsurgency.

Wonderful Snall Book on Tactics: Puts you in the Scenario

Swinton is a military professional with experience in the Boer War who wrote this famous short book based on a series of thoughts he had on how a infantry unit with only 50 men could defend a river crossing. A young Lieutenant has the role but you are given his perspective, the terrain features, the political situation, conflict with civilians and limits on your own military support. There is a brief history of the war with the "Dutch" and then your Lieutenant receives his assignment. With the use of maps, there are six scenarios of the Lieutenants approach to defending the crossing (drift). Each scenario is acted out and with each of the first five scenarios there are several lessons learned such as the effect of enfilading fire, the limitations of a simple trench, the use of the military crest versus being located on top of the hill, the effect the local sympathetic population may have on aiding guerrilla fighters, the effect of surprise, disguising your defense from view, proper posting of sentries and responsibilities, how to combat artillery, dealing with multiple directions of attack, using the terrain to advantage and on. As the Lieutenant in each scenario learns from his mistakes, he alters the outcome to his advantage but only incrementally. Only at the end and sixth scenario does he get it right but with realistic loss. The same map is introduced in each scenario with defense features matching the new defensive tactics. Fascinating book for all interested in basic infantry tactics, which has been used as a training manual for militaries world wide. This is a very readable book that can be read in less than 2 hours time. Applicable to any war but this book would be interesting to read with an account of Rappahannock Station, which was a spearhead position held by Confederates in advance of Lee's line on November 7, 1863 where Meade's forces overwhelmed the defenders and took almost 3,000 prisoners. Duffer's Drift would be very applicable here.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Contents:
Prologue
First Dream
Second Dream
Third Dream
Fourth Dream
Fifth Dream
Sixth Dream

Prologue.
Upon an evening after a long and tiring trek, I arrived at Dreamdorp. The local atmosphere, combined with a heavy meal, are 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, yet 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.

The whole series of dreams, however, remained in my memory as a connected whole when I awoke.

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