MEMORANDUM FOR Small Group Leader, ATTN: CAPT SETTLES, MPOBC 6-03, U.S. Army Military Police School, Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473
SUBJECT: Book review of The Defence of Duffer’s Drift
1. Reference. The Defence of Duffer’s Drift, by Major General Sir Ernest D. Swinton. Published in U.S. Army Infantry Journal in April 1906, 72 pages.
2. Recommendations.
a. Recommended Audience. I recommend this book to be read by all OBC Students. It emphasizes the importance of knowing your tactics, prior planning, and your enemy.
b. Recommended Actions. I recommend that all leaders and soldiers that read this book take into consideration their basic training b. KNOW. Major General Swinton portraying himself as Lieutenant BF continued to build on previous experiences through the dreams. Eventually he had twenty-two lessons learned and improved on his technical and tactical knowledge with each dream. He did, however, display poor judgment when establishing the initial defenses without consideration for basic security and OPSEC.
c. DO. Lieutenant BF was portrayed as improving in each dream with lessons he learned from each of the proceeding dreams. After each battle he made continuous improvements to his defensive and offensive position. He improved on his tactics, fighting positions, and use of natural camouflage. The overall improvements made eventually sustained his small force until reinforcements arrived to win the battle. However the method of operation in the first dream was slow. The tactics were improved upon in each dream until his immediate mission was accomplished.
6. Lessons learned. After reading this book I found three leadership lessons I can learn from.
ATSJ-MPB-T-B SUBJECT: BOOK REVIEW of The Defence of Duffers Drift
a. First, you must be prepared for the worst-case scenario at all times. In today’s battles, we no longer know who are enemies are. The enemy might be civilian children in a foreign land, or
