Anyone wishing to learn more on this period of Fairbairn’s life is strongly advised to purchase the above book, for me to attempt to retell in depth the origins of Fairbairn would be as ludicrous as it would be unseemly – buy Peter’s book. William Ewart Fairbairn was born in Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, his father (George) was originally from Liverpool and was employed as leather cutter. His mother (Laura Kemp) was from Mile End in East London, as one of fourteen children young William was part of a large family of limited means. Early tales of Fairbairn were that he used to read newspapers to a blind man and that his first employment was originally as an apprentice leather worker. Finding this employment unfavourable and desiring to see the world in 1901 he joined the Royal Marines as an under-aged recruit. I know of two sources that have provided this information to later researchers, both of them are now dead. Another has provided the same but he is on the verge of being incarcerated, suffice it say that I have no information to disprove these events.
Passing his basic training Fairbairn was posted to a number of bases in Britain before he joined the Royal Marines Legation Guard in Korea. I believe that it was whilst serving there that the basis for his double-handed stick method was first developed. He certainly used his time there to his advantage and was part of a team which competed against members of the Japanese Armed Forces in the then popular sport of Bayonet fighting. In 1907 Fairbairn left the Royal Marines to take up service as a Police Officer in the Shanghai Municipal Police. Posted first as an ordinary constable he rose through the ranks and served as a Training Officer instructing in Drill, Musketry and Self Defence. The picture below shows a typical scene from an SMP self defence class of that time.
Many things have been written about Shanghai from that period, the crime rate was one of the highest in the world and violent offences were the majority rather than the exception. The criminal elements were organised, tough and determined – they were also armed with the latest weaponry of the time. The Shanghai Municipal Police was comprised of individuals from many nations, each playing their part in combating the criminal elements. It was one of the first Police Forces to have a systemised Defensive Tactics course for it’s officers. This system found favour in other Police forces in countries such as Sweden, Hong Kong and Singapore and later was also shown to Law Enforcement Officers in the United States.
The principles of the Defensive Tactics system were codified into an SMP manual simply entitled “Manual of Self-Defence” in 1915. Leopold MacLagen had in 1914 given a 12 day course of instruction to the SMP and it has been noted by the researcher Harry Cook that the techniques (depicted in their written works) are remarkably similar to Fairbairn’s.
Fairbairn however had been training in Jiu-Jitsu with a Professor Okada since 1908, training in Kodokan Judo followed that with an Inspector Ogushi of the SMP from 1916 onwards. As an early cross-trainer we know that he also had knowledge of French Savate, Cornish Wrestling and English Boxing. He also trained in what was then termed “Chinese Boxing” (Kung Fu) under one Tsai Ching Tung who he wrote was an Instructor to servants of the Chinese Empress.
World War II Combatives
World War II combatives are close quarters combat techniques, including hand-to-hand, advanced firearm point shooting methods, and weapons techniques (knife/bayonet/improvised weapons) that were taught to allied special forces in World War II by such famous instructors as Rex Applegate and William Ewart Fairbairn. Distinctions between World War II combatives and modern combatives include: 1) The former is based upon explosive high percentage gross motor strikes to vital targets, whereas the latter is based upon fine motor skill grappling. 2) The former seeks primarily to disable the enemy as quickly as possible at all costs, whereas the latter seeks primarily to build "warrior ethos" and the courage to close with the enemy.
World War II combatives are rooted in British colonial history with the Shanghai Municipal Police (1854–1943), pioneers of modern SWAT, who operated in what was widely acknowledged as the most dangerous port city in the world at the time. After studying under some of the finest warriors of pre-Communist China and pre-war Japan, these officers condensed the most practical elements of these arts, combined it with elements of Shanghai gangster fighting, and field-tested their skills in over 2000 documented encounters, including over 600 lethal force engagements.
Upon return to the UK and US, veterans of the Shanghai Municipal Police were tasked in training allied World War II commandos and intelligence personnel, including :
- the British Commandos - SAS & SBS, the US/Canadian 1st Special Service Force ("Devil's Brigade"),
- the Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the CIA), the British Special Operation Executive,
- Marine Raider Units, and
- the US Army Rangers.
After World War II, with no institutional system of educating new instructors, the rise of Asian martial arts in the US, and the increasing role of the military in a peacekeeping capacity, realistic CQC training degenerated and in many places, died out. Thanks to the promotion of modified World War II combatives by modern warriors such as :
- Carl Cestari and
- Bob Kasper,
- Kelly Mcann,
- Clint Sporman,
- Lawrence A. Jordan, and
- John Perkins
Modern Martial Art Developed
Defendu is a modern martial art developed by William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes prior to World War II. It is a hand-to-hand combat system based on practical experience mixed with jujutsu and boxing that was developed to train the Shanghai Municipal Police, and was later taught in expanded form to Office of Strategic Services and Special Operations Executive members during World War II. Based on his training in boxing, early Judo at the Kodokan in Tokyo, and fights he was involved in during his police work, Fairbairn began to develop his own system of hand to hand combat, calling it "Defendu". It was designed to be simple to learn and to provide effective results. Fairbairn published his book, Defendu, in 1926 (re-printed as Scientific Self Defence in 1931), illustrating this method and it is here that the term "Defendu" first appeared. This confused early readers of the book, who assumed that the techniques within had been based mainly in the Eastern martial arts that Fairbairn had learned.
Thus, in an attempt to highlight the originality of Fairbairn's material, the term did not appear in the 1931 edition of the book. Fairbairn was called upon by the British to help train Allied troops in World War II. Fairbairn and others expanded on this system to create the Close Quarters Combat system that was then taught to the troops. This system was built on Defendu, but modified for military applications, rather than police and riot control.
The original Defendu was oriented towards self-defence and restraint, while the Close Quarters Combat system concentrated on rapid disabling of an opponent, with potentially lethal force. The militarised version of Defendu is described in the military manual All in fighting 1942, used as a supplement during WW2 CQB-training. This book was later published in a civillian edition, missing the chapters on bajonet-fighting and rifle sighting, under the name Get Tough!. How To Win In Hand-To-Hand Fighting. As Taught To The British Commandos And The U.S. Armed Forces. Fairbairns CQC-system is also described in Rex Applegate's book Kill or Get Killed. Fairbairn published several more books on the subject of self defence, all of which refer to Defendu only in relation to the earlier book.
The start of the Second World War saw the Allied forces needing every advantage to give their soldiers and special forces a winning edge. They found one such edge in Fairbairn's system. Immediately, Fairbairn was commissioned in the British Commandos and ordered to teach a lethal version of his system at the Commando school in Scotland. It was at this top secret Scottish location that Colonel Rex Applegate of the U.S. Army studied under Fairbairn. Through Col. Applegate and other instructors such as Col. Anthony Biddle, these highly effective skills were taught to U.S. troops including US Marines and Rangers, as well as OSS operatives and later to the FBI and CIA as the foundation of their basic training.
Once the British Commando School in Scotland was able to produce its own Fairbairn/Sykes qualified instructors, both men were transferred. Fairbairn to North America, and Sykes to SOE, where he trained special agents for behind the lines duties[clarification needed]. Fairbairn's 'special assignment' in Oshawa, Canada, was to teach his system to Allied special forces at the most highly classified training operation of WWII, Camp X. Agents were trained in depth to dispose of their enemy quickly and quietly with brutal effectiveness. Following his instruction at Camp X, Fairbairn was rejoined by Col. Applegate to form the United States Camp B, now known as Camp David.
This introduction of 'The Fairbairn Fighting System' at Camp X in conjunction with input from many highly skilled instructors with various backgrounds and fighting skills was the beginning of the evolution of Defendu. As close quarters battle or unarmed combat training progressed throughout this period, it was added to and refined utilising western fighting principles, eventually becoming referred to in slang as Defendo by Allied soldiers.
Original Source : cqbservices / Wikipedia.
