Bøger af Ernest Dunlop Swinton

A classic in small unit tactics in the British and U.S. Army, this book is recommended, without qualification, for the modern professional soldier. What would you do? 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 like fighting the Battle of Waterloo...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 you, astute reader, with a sharp mind and quick intellect, will no doubt, solve the problem before the first shot is fired. This version of Duffer's Drift is published by Army Flashcards. Army Flashcards produces premier military educational material. In this edition, the lessons of Duffer's Drift are related to the present day experience of the American Soldier and Officer.When I was a young Army Captain and Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy, Icame across Duffer's Drift lying on a random book case in our offices. I remember picking it up, flipping through the pages, and wondering at what kind of curiosity I'd stumbled across. I rememberreading about the adventures, and subsequent demises, of LT Backsight Forethought and how eerilysimilar it sounded to my own adventures as a LT (without all of the recurring deaths obviously)!War is timeless. We come to the battlefield with new equipment and weapons, but the same humannature. In my decade plus in the Army (and more years to come!), I've found that our nature in waris to become complacent and overconfident. War is a dull bore punctuated by moments of intenseconflict and emotions. It's during the lulls where we begin to believe that what we are doing is goodenough and that our enemy is not as capable as we once thought. Then, inevitably, we suffer a loss, whip ourselves back into the shape and state we should have been in, and perform better.... for atime.I've spent the majority of my career training Soldiers, Cadets, and other leaders to master theirprofession of combat during a time that we collectively call the War on Terror. Starting with the fallof our towers and the tragic loss we all felt, the War on Terror has spanned nearly 20 years andseveral conflicts across the planet. In the military we are guilty of looking at these conflicts as"counter-insurgency" fights, then we excuse ourselves for neglecting our doctrine and basic war-fighting principles as if they don't apply anymore. I saw this tendency over and over again intraining, and have yet to master a way to break the mind set. To be completely honest, one of thebest ways I've found is to make others read Duffer's Drift!There is something about this tale that terrifies us. Though we read about BF far away in SouthAfrica, we can't help picturing ourselves in places more familiar. I'm transported to Shir KhanAfghanistan, where as a young LT, I supervised the construction of an outpost on a remote anddusty hilltop on the Tajikistan border. Had I been attacked like LT BF, would we have survived?After reading Duffer's Drift, I must honestly answer no! I likely would have suffered the same fateas the heroes of our story!I encourage you take this tale to heart. Even if you have yet to see combat, do your best to pictureyourself in the most dire of circumstances, then consider how you can apply the lessons from LTBF to that situation. I'm here to tell you, it could make all of the differenc

Ernest Dunlop 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 an infantry unit with only 50 men could defend a river crossing. Through the perspective of a young Lieutenant, you are given 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. "The Defence of Duffer's Drift" is a fascinating book for all interested in basic infantry tactics, which has been used as a training manual for militaries worldwide. 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 in that situation.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1916 Edition.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

This book, from the series Primary Sources: Historical Books of the World (Asia and Far East Collection), represents an important historical artifact on Asian history and culture. Its contents come from the legions of academic literature and research on the subject produced over the last several hundred years. Covered within is a discussion drawn from many areas of study and research on the subject. From analyses of the varied geography that encompasses the Asian continent to significant time periods spanning centuries, the book was made in an effort to preserve the work of previous generations.