The original title of the novel is Death to the French. However the novel is also known as Rifleman Dodd, after the main character of the novel. The novel relates the adventures of Matthew Dodd, a British rifleman of the 95th Regiment of Foot, who is cut off from his regiment when the Allied army retreats behind the lines of Torres Vedras. He is forced to survive for several months in territory that has been devastated by the Allies and occupied by the French. With some help from a few local Portuguese, Dodd wages guerrilla warfare against the French. Its picture of the hero's resolution and devotion to duty in dangerous circumstances caused it to be put on the official reading list endorsed by the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.