The deadly art of Defendu. Combat for commandos.

By Matthew Temkin

“Now, if there are no further questions...” The British Commando hand-to-hand combat instructor studied his new group of recruits. Despite his well-prepared introductory lecture, many of the trainees still seemed to have their doubts about the effectiveness of this system of unarmed combat. Time was short - they would have to be shown! “You there”, said the instructor, pointing to a large mean-looking young man seated in the first row. “Come right at me son”. Delighted at the opportunity of putting this scrawny, tough-talking officer in his place, the recruit charged boldly forward. Just before they made contact, the officer grabbed the man's wrists, fell back, thrust both feel into the younger man's stomach and threw him violently overhead. Dazed but not yet ready to quit, the trainee scrambled to his feet and again moved in. This time a well-placed blow across the solar plexus dropped him to his knees gasping for breath. “Before karate became a household word, defend fight scenes dominated movies and TV shows”. Facing the others with a grin the instructor calmly asked, “Would anyone else care to try? After a few nervous glances toward their fallen comrade, none of the recruits chose to reply. “Good. In that case, we may begin”. The unarmed-combat improvised-weapon knife-fighting tactics of Britain’s World War II Commandos have an impressive history. Taught to, and battle tested by, virtually every Allied special fighting unit, the see tactics proved to military leaders the importance of hand-to-hand combat in modern warfare. Commando schools in Scotland and Canada trained not only crack out tits such as the Rangers, American - Canadian Special Service Force, Free French and others, but also many of the heroic men and women fighting a secret war of resistance and espionage in Nazi occupied Europe. The name of this combat system is Defendu. Because of defendu’s remarkable success through of the war, it was, with many modifications, adopted by the FBI, Secret Service, CIA and military law enforcement agencies worldwide. Back in the 1850s and early 60s — before karate became a household word — defendu fight scenes dominated movies and TV shows. Some movies, such as The Devil's Brigade, Darby's Rangers, Gung-Ho and the early James Bond flicks, were amazingly accurate in their portrayal of defendu techniques. In fact, Ian Fleming James Bond's creator - was British secret agent. Defendu’s creator, the late William Ewart Fairbairn, was clearly a man ahead of his time. In 1907, after serving as tint in the English Royal Marines, Fairbain signed up as a constable with Shanghai's municipal police department. Shanghai was an extremely violent city in those days, plagued by murderers, thieves, opium dealers and overcrowded, stress-producing living conditions. Street crime was rampant, rioting almost a national pastime, and the Chinese people certainly had no great love for their colonial ruler. In short, the city was a dangerous place for a young Caucasian policeman a fact Fairbain was to learn the hard way.

“Fairbairn believed the Asian fighting arts just weren't suited to the Western mentality."

One day, while on duty in a tough section of town, Fairbairn was set upon by a band of thugs, savagely beaten, robbed and left for dead in an alley way. After a lengthy rehabilitation, he vowed never to be helpless again and embarked on a serious study of jujitsu and Chinese boxing. Unlike traditional martial artists, who are taught to refrain from employing the w skills except in competition (or in a are street situation),Fairbairn had ample opportunity to test his expertise in actual combat. In many of the numerous armed and un-armed encounter she was personally involved in. Fairbairn was shocked to discover that a lot of the techniques he had so painstakingly learned were ineffectual for police work. Fairbairn, for reasons best known to himself, believed the Asian fighting arts just weren't suited to the Western mentality. He decided to modify, simplify and consolidate the best of his martial arts knowledge into an easy-to-learn, practical system which included not only unarmed combat, but knife fighting, stick fighting, bayonet fighting, pistol shooting and prisoner control as well. Not wanting his system to be confused with the Oriental martial arts, Fairbairn named his brainchild Defendu. In his book, Scientific Self-Defense, he writes, “This system is not to be confounded with Japanese jujit-su, Chinese ‘boxing’ or any other known methods of defense, and although some of the holds, trips, etc. are a combination of several methods, the majority entirely original and no athletic effort is required to perform any of the exercises. ”Whether or not this statement is entirely true is debatable, as many techniques in this and his other book, Get Tough, are identical to those found in classical jujitsu. What cannot be questioned, however, is Fairbaim's enormous contribution in the field of close combat. For example, his book on pistol-craft, Shooting for Live, was the first to stress the now commonly accepted preference for semi-automatics over revolvers, snapshooting without sights, using a two-handed grip, and other vital aspects of combat shooting. Many of his unarmed combat / riot control tactics are still taught in police academies, to SWAT teams, the FBI, Secret Service, special military units, and to the military police. Moreover, his classic codesign of the Fairbaim / Sykes double edged British Commando dagger has serve as the basis for several modern fighting Knives, such as Gerber's Mark I and Mark II(extensively used in Vietnam),and Bo Randall's Model2. Fairbairn’s innovativeness did not get noticed by his superiors. His rise in rank was rapid, first as a drill instructor, then as head instructor of self-defense for the Shanghai municipal police. In 1927 he was appointed assistant commissioner. Thousands of British and American troops stationed in pre war China also became eager Fairbairn students. It was here that he began to experiment with military applications for his fighting system. With the world about to explode in brutal warfare, his theories would soon be put to the ultimate test in 1940,Fairbairn reached the mandatory retirement age of 55 and returned home to England. His reputation must have preceded him, for he was quickly commissioned as captain int he British Army and assigned the task of developing combat tactics for the then forming Commandos, regular armed forces, civilian Home Guard and the various branches of British Military Intelligence.(Two years later a young American officer, Captain Rex Applegate, would be assigned to Fairbairn as a student. Also a clever and practical technician, Applegate would become an expert in his own right and produce what some believe to be the most exhaustive combat text book ever written, Kill or Get Killed. Defendu downplays the importance of technique, instead emphasizing individuality and a ruthless “win-at all-costs” spirit. British Commando instructors, many of whom were former Shanghai policemen, insisted

“It's not so much what you do that counts, but how aggressively you do it” “Exactly what technique so administer was left entirely to the student's ingenuity.”

Trainees were told to forget any thought of fair play, and to save their mercy for those deserving of it. Their job was to kill the enemy by the fastest means possible. If that meant shooting a man in the back, or smashing a helmet into his throat while he was down, so be it. Rather than teach a specific defense for a specific attack, a long-term procedure at best, Fairbairn students were shown flexible responses applicable in many types of situations. For example, if grabbed from behind, pupils were instructed to stomp down on the enemy's foot, kick hack into his knees or shins, smash their helmets back into his face, grab the groin, or anything else which was possible in that situation. Once shaken up, the opponent could then be finished off with any of numerous other techniques. Exactly what technique to administer was left entirely to the student's ingenuity. There were no “right” or “wrong” choices. If it worked, it was permissible. Defendu employs techniques from every aspect of the martial arts—striking, kicking, throwing (mainly hip and Jag throws,joint locks, chokes and blocking — but none were stressed than hand techniques, especially those utilizing the Edge of the hand. “Never hit a man with your fist”, defendu instructors warmed, “because the risk of injuring your hand is great, while the odds of knocking out your opponent are minimal”,a more certain weapon was the outside edge of the hand. To employ this basic technique, pupils were taught to firmly extend their hand with the thumb held upright, automatically tensing their hand in the proper manner with a chopping motion, the Edge of the hand was smashed against vulnerable targets such as the throat, bridge of the nose, underside of the nose, sides of the neck, solar plexus and groin. Power was obtained by stepping in with the blow and whipping the hand back immediately after contact. Practice was conducted on hard packed dummies simulating the size and resistance of human beings. Another favored defendu strike, termed a “chinjab”, utilized the heel of the hand. With the hand bent well back at the wrist and fingers spread wide, it was rammed up and under the chin, usually followed by gouging the opponent's eyes. Such a blow, particularly when applied immediately after a knee to the groin, virtually guaranteed a knockout. Other defendu striking techniques included fingertip/knuckle jabs, elbow jabs, sidekicks, front kicks, thumb gouges, head butting and biting. Perhaps the most unique principle of defendu involved rapidly charging toward the enemy, getting in close quarters with him, then finishing him off, although such a tactic sounds dangerous, it's actually a good risk. Even an expert fighter has trouble defending against a close-range rush, And an unskilled enemy is usually too surprised to put up any defense. Also, a larger opponent is usually best taken out with a rushing attack because his balance will immediately be thrown off and he'll be unable to put his longer reach so effective use. In any case, on the battlefield there often weren’t many other options except to rapidly close with the enemy especially when his artillery and air support were superior. Fairbain understood that men operating far behind enemy lines in the dead of night needed a means of Silent killing. With this in mind, he devised several of the now classic sentry-stalking / disposal tactics. Commando recruits were taught to attack swiftly from the rear with sticks, knives, garrotes, neck breaking chokeholds, knitting needles and other archaic weapons. Putting these methods to good use, small bands of commandos would often raid isolated coastal outposts in France and bring enemy soldiers back to England alive. Not only was this done for interrogation purposes, but also to terrorize the German occupying forces, the advanced portion of the defendu training course dealt with knife fighting, prisoner control, fighting multiple assailants, disarming of knives, clubs, guns and bayonet-equipped rifles, and using common objects, such as a box of matches, as weapons. Defendu, in its original form, is no longer taught today. With Fairbairn’s death in 1960. His entire art. was buried with him. Commando / Special Forces / Force Recon personnel are now trained in a more sophisticated hand-to-hand system employing karate and hwarang-do techniques. Yet, thanks to the experts Fairbairn trained, and the experts those experts trained, defendu's influence in the field of close combat will probably live on for a long, long time.

About the Author Matthew Temmkin is a freelance writer and court officer in New York City, A practitioner of jujit-su, defendu and police defensive tactics, he is also a self-defense consultant for the Mayor's Task Force on Rape.