The Defence of Duffer's Drift



The Defence of Duffer's Drift is a short book by Major General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, published in 1904 when Swinton was a Captain. It appeared in the British United Service Magazine under the pseudonym, Lieutenant N. Backsight Forethought, who is the narrator of the book. The book is an exploration of small unit tactics in a fictional encounter in the Boer War. Swinton served in South Africa during the Boer War, and the book "embodies some recollections of things actually done and undone in South Africa, 1899–1902."

Lieutenant Backsight Forethought ("BF") and his command of fifty men are given the task to defend Duffer's Drift, a natural ford to a river. A large force of Boers, unknown to BF, is moving toward his position. This scenario is played out six separate times, in six "dreams." In the early scenarios, BF and his British troops are ignominiously defeated. After each defeat, BF learns lessons and adapts his strategy for the later encounters. The later dreams end more inconclusively, and in the final dream, BF and his command successfully hold out long enough to be relieved. The book encourages critical thinking and careful use of position and terrain to mount a successful defence.

The Defence of Duffer's Drift was reprinted in the April 1905 edition of the Journal of the United States Infantry Association. The book, especially intended for young lieutenants, has become a military staple on small unit tactics, read far afield in places such as the United States, Russia, and Canada. While some of the advice has become rather dated—notably, BF eventually decides to imprison all nearby locals, shoot any livestock that could be of aid to the enemy, and impress both Boer and black alike into building fortifications for his men—the book is still considered relevant and interesting in modern times.

Storyline
Lieutenant Backsight Forethought (BF to his friends) has been left in command of a 50-man reinforced platoon to hold Duffer's Drift, the only ford on the Silliassvogel River available to wheeled traffic. Here is his chance for fame and glory. He has passed his officer courses and special qualifications. "Now if they had given me a job, say like fighting the Battle of Waterloo, of Gettysburg, or Bull Run, I knew all about that, as I had crammed it up...." While BF's task appears simple enough the Boer enemy causes a multitude of problems, but the astute reader, with a sharp mind and quick intellect, will no doubt, solve the problem before the first shot is fired.

Lessons learned
The following are the lessons learned discussed in this book.

Influence
This style of literary fiction has been copied by several authors, making this author an influence upon the writings of others. four examples are provided; one, a mechanized battalion level primer, one military combat service support example, another one that is non-military related, and a third adopting the parable to operations in Iraq.

The first one was "Defense Of Hill 781" written by James R. McDonough in 1988 dealing with a somewhat large combat element that the original, and having a slightly different reason for the "dreams". The second was written by Staff Sergeants Reginald Scott and Steve Newman, along with Sergeants William Baucom, Rodney Weathers, and Louise Chee in the September 2001 edition of NCO Notes, number 01-2, from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Institute of Land Warfare. The title of this story was The Defense of Duffer's Drift Brigade Support Area. Instead of trying to teach infantry tactics, the authors of this story focused upon a supply company of a forward support battalion in an effort to teach units inside of a Brigade Support Area to become more effective in defensive operations during combat.

The third one was written by Dr. Scott S. Haraburda, PhD, PE, in 2008 for a non-military topic, even though it involved the Department of Defense. His book, Premonitions of the Palladion Project: A Modern Project Management Fable, contains information about what works and what does not work when managing a project, which can be used to assist anyone in managing a more successful project. This book provided a project management framework illustrating twenty-four project management rules. The general thesis in this book was that using just the best project management tools while forgetting everything else about running the project would doom the project to failure.

The fourth was written by Albert J. Marckwardt and Michael Burgoyne, entitled The Defense of Jisr al-Doreaa. The book follows a young lieutenant through successive lessons while conducting stability and counterinsurgency operations in Iraq.

The Winter 2005 edition of the Canadian Army Journal contained the following praise:

"The South African War (1899-1902) provided the next opportunity for literary fiction to play a role in future army concepts. The publication of The Defence of Duffer's Drift by Captain (later Major-General Sir) Ernest Swinton, KBE, CB, DSO, in 1905, was extremely well received and became required reading for many subsequent generations of young officers. Set at a river choke point on some generic veldt anywhere in the Transvaal, the story's main character, a young and energetic Lieutenant Backsight Forethought, has a series of nightmares in which he loses battle after battle against his Boer adversaries. After each dream, however, a series of lessons are highlighted, and each of these was incorporated into the next battle, which eventually leads Lieutenant Forethought to victory and relief in the final dream. Although written as a fictional tale, Swinton's aim was to teach tactical lessons as well as generate discussion and debate on the planning and execution of operations."

- Godefroy, Andrew B.