Home   Self Defence & Security Self Defence Part 1

SELF DEFENCE - Part One

Handguns, from a military point of view, have always enjoyed a secondary role to the main purpose of principal weapons systems, such as those designed for the battlefield. One only has to look at the struggle which took place to have semi-auto pistols accepted by the American Military in the early part of this century to see how confused was the thinking on the requirement for a 'personal weapon of protection' as handguns were called. Hand in hand with the battle over the merits of revolver or pistol went the battle about training and even with the enhanced firepower of pistols, training was still conditioned by the 'Principles of Marksmanship' which dogged any practical approach to pistol work for nearly two world wars, with some notable exceptions.

I feel we get even closer to the reality if we could call it 'Personal Combat'. I avoid the term 'Close Quarter Battle' (CQB), as this, in military terms is weapons oriented, although, as we know, the battle is likely to be in an environment which places the enemy close by and in a variety of concealed locations from which they must be prised out - usually a 'built up area'. The ideal term which I feel is most appropriate is 'Close Quarter Combat' (CQC). It is suitably vague to allow in whatever is appropriate at the time to suit the demands placed on those who need to learn, such as armed or unarmed techniques and in military personal combat training, these demands have quite clearly seen to pendulum in sync with the background of the state of the nation i.e. at peace or at war.

At present, my personal belief is that no branch of the military should be happy with their unarmed combat syllabus, but it politically suits the times. Videos I've watched and manuals I've studied, all reflect the current imperative for a 'defensive' posture to be the premise from which a syllabus has had to be designed.

You would need look no further than the 'committee designed' army Restraint and Arrest manual. Essentially, an adaptation of the Restraint Arrest and Control System (RACS), developed by the army in co-operation with the Army School of Physical Training, the Metropolitan Police and HM Customs & Excise. By its own admission, the syllabus was developed in 1970, primarily to meet the army's peace-keeping role in Northern Ireland. "The aim of the course is to give the solider effective, but humane skills, whilst observing the principle of minimum force consistent with achieving the objectives". In other words, it won't work, but the authorities can say they have one and it is hard to dispute that it is effective. Its aims are broadly at odds with its objectives and personal, bitter experience has taught me that the 'supposed' attacks and holds perpetrated by the illustrated attackers, bear no resemblance whatsoever to how it happens in the real world. It is dangerous, fallacious and misleading to train people in the belief that these will work for only one person against real attacks.

With excuses for dropping into the vernacular, its complete bollocks to believe that someone, in reality, who dives towards you with short, fast, slashing strokes of a knife, can have his wrist gripped, twisted, locked and then thrown to the ground and disarmed. When you look at the diagrams in Control & Restraint, however, the attackers are frozen into immobility for some 2 - 3 seconds after he has committed his arm for one thrust of the knife at what must have been a pedestrian pace - bollocks I say again - its not reality.

Capt. Stephen Stavers USMC, who was killed in 1944 during the marine landings at Peleliu, was a personal combat instructor and a student of Col. Biddle, who many will know from his somewhat classical work on the subject of combat knife fighting. Stavers commented on knife defence - he said (and knew) "that no bare-handed disarming technique is dependable against even a fair knife fighter. Trying to disarm a truly scientific knife fighter would be like trying to stop a propeller with bare hands". He went on to say "indeed, the appearance of the scientific knife fighter in action suggests a flashing propeller on the head of a cobra, to use an extravagant metaphor, he uses a slashing attack (rather than thrusting or stabbing), with the knife pointing forward in a loose, flexible manner, the blade flat and the cutting edge outward. The blade is in constant, controlled, lateral motion at the same time, moving in and out, high and low".

The above is the reality of it, not how you see it portrayed in training manuals or martial arts magazines. The myth is perpetuated by people who don't know - but assume. To be fair to the Army's Physical Training Wing, if commended to produce a manual - you do. This particular work, however, is no better and no worse than any other personal combat syllabus designed in peace-time than it is when your country is at war - its just an image problem and we come back to the necessity of authorities to protect themselves and also to limit what they know will eventually be in the hands of a civilian population. During World War 2, FBI agents trained alongside the first combined special forces of the American and Canadian units, so that they knew what the soldiers knew. The purpose of this was so they had equal combative skills when these men returned to civilian life and would possibly use their skills for more nefarious ends.

Contrast today's training with what we knew 80 years ago when a man called William Ewatt Fairbairn walked the streets of Shanghai. As an underage recruit, Fairbairn had joined the Royal Marine's Light Infantry and in 1903 volunteered for duty with the British Legation Guard at Seoul, Korea. In October that year, he sailed for the Far East to begin an association with the Orient which was to last until the late 1930s. Her arrived in Korea in 1904, a few days before the outbreak of the Russian-Japanese war and some seven years later, bought his discharge and signed up as a constable in the Shanghai Municipal Police.

The International Settlement, in Shanghai, for whose safety, the SMP was responsible, was unquestionably, at that time, the single most lawless place in the world, with acts of crime and terrorism running at epidemic levels. Organised gangs of professional kidnappers roamed the streets armed with the latest in full and semi-auto weapons and when caught, would use them. Conditions in which the police fought were the filthy, tightly packed, poorly lit, overcrowded maze of Chinese buildings, against Chinese, Korean and Japanese gangsters skilled in a variety of Martial Arts and the use of weapons. The Queensbury rules and 'principles of marksmanship' proved totally ineffective in combating such violence.

Fairbairn, with others, developed combat concepts and training systems for pistol, knife, stick and unarmed combat that, due to its success, was to eventually find its way into all Commando training and for training the special operations people in the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) and the American OSS (Office of Strategic Service) during the second world war as well as the American Marine Corp. It was Fairbairn who thought of the first 'Killing House' or 'Mystery House' as it was called then. The system that formed the foundation of their close combat was Defendu, the methods that had been taught to members of the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) and used to battle with the street gangs, thugs, toughs, kidnappers and what have you that plagued the International Settlement of Shanghai. One of the largest criminal organisations that the world has seen, plied their trade there. It was known as the Green Gang and it is said that it had anywhere up to 100,000 members, in and around the Shanghai area.

Defendu had been formulated and developed by W.E. Fairbairn from his training in Shinnoshindo-Ryu Ju-Jitsu and his later training in Kodokan judo. As well as these Japanese arts, he also had a knowledge of wrestling, western boxing, Savate, Chinese boxing and general brawling methods used by a number of nationalities that resided in or visited Shanghai. Add to this a study of the techniques used by the United States Marine Corps, who had one of their regiments stationed there from 1927 until 1942 and you will see a great depth of knowledge gained by Fairbairn on all aspects of close combat, both armed and unarmed.

All the methods espoused in Defendu had been used by Fairbairn and members of the SMP. The real test came in 1925 with the formation of what was officially known as the Reserve Unit but better known as the Shanghai Riot Squad. So it was from 1925 through to 1935, Fairbairn trained, inspired and led the squad in all its various duties. This covered street disturbances and riots, armed robberies, kidnapping, hostage taking, siege situations and a variety of bodyguarding duties. Until his retirement at 55 years old, he took every opportunity to ride out with his men on emergency calls. To illustrate this - he retired at the end of February 1940 and yet in the early part of the month, he was at siege, where his unit had been sent to assist the local station in which an armed gang had taken refuge and prisoners in a residential area.

It would have been enough of a life for most people up to this point, but we now enter really the third part of an incredible life. In 1940, both he and E.A. (Bill) Sykes, his partner in crime from the SMP, who commanded the sniper unit, spent the war as Instructors to Instructors for a variety of special forces and commando units, both British, American and Canadian, as well as the collection of foreign operatives who passed through such establishments as Inverailort House, at Lochailort in Scotland or the Commando Basic Training Centre (CBTC) at Achnacarry House some 20 miles away. This article, cannot devote itself to the history of these men or their exploits and the forthcoming book by an old friend and martial arts colleague, Peter Robins, on this truly fascinating period of history and the Fairbairn-Sykes line will satisfy this near forgotten piece of military history and the story that needs to be told. What did emerge from these men was a combat system which has, for many, remained unequalled. They produced techniques that worked against men versed in violence and death.

As we know, Fairbairn took every opportunity to accompany as many patrols and call-outs so as to be able to assess under fire and in combat, the reactions of himself and his men. He knew what worked in the fear, stress, terror and the reality of a gunfight and he adopted and developed personal combat skills to suit. These reached their peak in his 'Silent Killing Course' delivered at Lochailort and elsewhere during the war years.

Peter Robins once wrote in an article how little development work there was when one looked at Fairbairn's writings in his books - Defendu 1926 Scientific Self Defence 1931 and finally, Get Tough. This wasn't by way of criticism, but an observation about how few things actually worked in real combat and about the simplicity of techniques which are required. As the only genuine teacher of Defendu in Britain, and with nearly 30 years martial arts experience, Peter is more than qualified to comment on the role of martial arts in self defence. The following is an extract from an article he wrote for the internal newsletter of The British Combat Association.

I feel we get even closer to the reality if we could call it 'Personal Combat'. I avoid the term 'Close Quarter Battle' (CQB), as this, in military terms is weapons oriented, although, as we know, the battle is likely to be in an environment which places the enemy close by and in a variety of concealed locations from which they must be prised out - usually a 'built up area'. The ideal term which I feel is most appropriate is 'Close Quarter Combat' (CQC). It is suitably vague to allow in whatever is appropriate at the time to suit the demands placed on those who need to learn, such as armed or unarmed techniques and in military personal combat training, these demands have quite clearly seen to pendulum in sync with the background of the state of the nation i.e. at peace or at war.

At present, my personal belief is that no branch of the military should be happy with their unarmed combat syllabus, but it politically suits the times. Videos I've watched and manuals I've studied, all reflect the current imperative for a 'defensive' posture to be the premise from which a syllabus has had to be designed.

You would need look no further than the 'committee designed' army Restraint and Arrest manual. Essentially, an adaptation of the Restraint Arrest and Control System (RACS), developed by the army in co-operation with the Army School of Physical Training, the Metropolitan Police and HM Customs & Excise. By its own admission, the syllabus was developed in 1970, primarily to meet the army's peace-keeping role in Northern Ireland. "The aim of the course is to give the solider effective, but humane skills, whilst observing the principle of minimum force consistent with achieving the objectives". In other words, it won't work, but the authorities can say they have one and it is hard to dispute that it is effective. Its aims are broadly at odds with its objectives and personal, bitter experience has taught me that the 'supposed' attacks and holds perpetrated by the illustrated attackers, bear no resemblance whatsoever to how it happens in the real world. It is dangerous, fallacious and misleading to train people in the belief that these will work for only one person against real attacks.

With excuses for dropping into the vernacular, its complete bollocks to believe that someone, in reality, who dives towards you with short, fast, slashing strokes of a knife, can have his wrist gripped, twisted, locked and then thrown to the ground and disarmed. When you look at the diagrams in Control & Restraint, however, the attackers are frozen into immobility for some 2 - 3 seconds after he has committed his arm for one thrust of the knife at what must have been a pedestrian pace - bollocks I say again - its not reality.

Capt. Stephen Stavers USMC, who was killed in 1944 during the marine landings at Peleliu, was a personal combat instructor and a student of Col. Biddle, who many will know from his somewhat classical work on the subject of combat knife fighting. Stavers commented on knife defence - he said (and knew) "that no bare-handed disarming technique is dependable against even a fair knife fighter. Trying to disarm a truly scientific knife fighter would be like trying to stop a propeller with bare hands". He went on to say "indeed, the appearance of the scientific knife fighter in action suggests a flashing propeller on the head of a cobra, to use an extravagant metaphor, he uses a slashing attack (rather than thrusting or stabbing), with the knife pointing forward in a loose, flexible manner, the blade flat and the cutting edge outward. The blade is in constant, controlled, lateral motion at the same time, moving in and out, high and low".

The above is the reality of it, not how you see it portrayed in training manuals or martial arts magazines. The myth is perpetuated by people who don't know - but assume. To be fair to the Army's Physical Training Wing, if commended to produce a manual - you do. This particular work, however, is no better and no worse than any other personal combat syllabus designed in peace-time than it is when your country is at war - its just an image problem and we come back to the necessity of authorities to protect themselves and also to limit what they know will eventually be in the hands of a civilian population. During World War 2, FBI agents trained alongside the first combined special forces of the American and Canadian units, so that they knew what the soldiers knew. The purpose of this was so they had equal combative skills when these men returned to civilian life and would possibly use their skills for more nefarious ends.

Contrast today's training with what we knew 80 years ago when a man called William Ewatt Fairbairn walked the streets of Shanghai. As an underage recruit, Fairbairn had joined the Royal Marine's Light Infantry and in 1903 volunteered for duty with the British Legation Guard at Seoul, Korea. In October that year, he sailed for the Far East to begin an association with the Orient which was to last until the late 1930s. Her arrived in Korea in 1904, a few days before the outbreak of the Russian-Japanese war and some seven years later, bought his discharge and signed up as a constable in the Shanghai Municipal Police.

The International Settlement, in Shanghai, for whose safety, the SMP was responsible, was unquestionably, at that time, the single most lawless place in the world, with acts of crime and terrorism running at epidemic levels. Organised gangs of professional kidnappers roamed the streets armed with the latest in full and semi-auto weapons and when caught, would use them. Conditions in which the police fought were the filthy, tightly packed, poorly lit, overcrowded maze of Chinese buildings, against Chinese, Korean and Japanese gangsters skilled in a variety of Martial Arts and the use of weapons. The Queensbury rules and 'principles of marksmanship' proved totally ineffective in combating such violence.

Fairbairn, with others, developed combat concepts and training systems for pistol, knife, stick and unarmed combat that, due to its success, was to eventually find its way into all Commando training and for training the special operations people in the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) and the American OSS (Office of Strategic Service) during the second world war as well as the American Marine Corp. It was Fairbairn who thought of the first 'Killing House' or 'Mystery House' as it was called then. The system that formed the foundation of their close combat was Defendu, the methods that had been taught to members of the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) and used to battle with the street gangs, thugs, toughs, kidnappers and what have you that plagued the International Settlement of Shanghai. One of the largest criminal organisations that the world has seen, plied their trade there. It was known as the Green Gang and it is said that it had anywhere up to 100,000 members, in and around the Shanghai area.

Defendu had been formulated and developed by W.E. Fairbairn from his training in Shinnoshindo-Ryu Ju-Jitsu and his later training in Kodokan judo. As well as these Japanese arts, he also had a knowledge of wrestling, western boxing, Savate, Chinese boxing and general brawling methods used by a number of nationalities that resided in or visited Shanghai. Add to this a study of the techniques used by the United States Marine Corps, who had one of their regiments stationed there from 1927 until 1942 and you will see a great depth of knowledge gained by Fairbairn on all aspects of close combat, both armed and unarmed.

All the methods espoused in Defendu had been used by Fairbairn and members of the SMP. The real test came in 1925 with the formation of what was officially known as the Reserve Unit but better known as the Shanghai Riot Squad. So it was from 1925 through to 1935, Fairbairn trained, inspired and led the squad in all its various duties. This covered street disturbances and riots, armed robberies, kidnapping, hostage taking, siege situations and a variety of bodyguarding duties. Until his retirement at 55 years old, he took every opportunity to ride out with his men on emergency calls. To illustrate this - he retired at the end of February 1940 and yet in the early part of the month, he was at siege, where his unit had been sent to assist the local station in which an armed gang had taken refuge and prisoners in a residential area.

It would have been enough of a life for most people up to this point, but we now enter really the third part of an incredible life. In 1940, both he and E.A. (Bill) Sykes, his partner in crime from the SMP, who commanded the sniper unit, spent the war as Instructors to Instructors for a variety of special forces and commando units, both British, American and Canadian, as well as the collection of foreign operatives who passed through such establishments as Inverailort House, at Lochailort in Scotland or the Commando Basic Training Centre (CBTC) at Achnacarry House some 20 miles away. This article, cannot devote itself to the history of these men or their exploits and the forthcoming book by an old friend and martial arts colleague, Peter Robins, on this truly fascinating period of history and the Fairbairn-Sykes line will satisfy this near forgotten piece of military history and the story that needs to be told. What did emerge from these men was a combat system which has, for many, remained unequalled. They produced techniques that worked against men versed in violence and death.

As we know, Fairbairn took every opportunity to accompany as many patrols and call-outs so as to be able to assess under fire and in combat, the reactions of himself and his men. He knew what worked in the fear, stress, terror and the reality of a gunfight and he adopted and developed personal combat skills to suit. These reached their peak in his 'Silent Killing Course' delivered at Lochailort and elsewhere during the war years.

Peter Robins once wrote in an article how little development work there was when one looked at Fairbairn's writings in his books - Defendu 1926 Scientific Self Defence 1931 and finally, Get Tough. This wasn't by way of criticism, but an observation about how few things actually worked in real combat and about the simplicity of techniques which are required. As the only genuine teacher of Defendu in Britain, and with nearly 30 years martial arts experience, Peter is more than qualified to comment on the role of martial arts in self defence. The following is an extract from an article he wrote for the internal newsletter of The British Combat Association.

• The myth was sold that all and any martial arts training was effective.
• The myth was sold that a black belt automatically meant that you have become an instructor, when all it really meant was that the recipient had gained a certain level in training.
• The myth was sold that gaining in knowledge and becoming effective meant
• learning more weird and wonderful moves as you progressed.
• The myth was sold that all martial arts had been tried and tested.

The first two are self-explanatory, the third perhaps not quite so. What he advocated was that once you decide you have to attack, then there is no let-up until the fight is over. The rationale was very aptly summed up by the CO at the Special Training Centre, Lochailort, in Western Scotland in July 1942 as follows:-

"To the civilian without a weapon, or the soldier surprised without his or deprived of it, it gives the necessary confidence, determination and ruthlessness to gain victory. It will soon be found that the principle value of the training lies not so much in the actual physical holds or breaks (and blows), but in the psychological reaction which engenders and fosters the necessary attitude of mind which refuses to admit defeat and is determined to achieve victory".

Starting from the STC, their methods spread wide and far, found their way into the Army, Navy, Royal Marines and RAF, to say nothing of the many special units that Great Britain formed. Some are well known, such as the Commandos, Independent Companies, Special Operations Executive (SOE), SAS, SBS, with their links extending to all United States and Canadian special forces and intelligence operations. Fairbairn taught such worthy notables in unconventional warfare as Spencer Chapman, Mike Calvert, Lord Lovat an both the Stirling brothers, not to mention Randolph Churchull and Ian Fleming.

Broadly, the foundation of a close combat system should be based on these precepts:-

F actors

R ange

A ssessment

M ethod

E xecution

RANGE
This section is very much 'AWARENESS' based. Awareness of risk or threat 'buys' time! - The further out we perceive a possible threat, the more time we have for our assessment and fight or flight. In 'The Modern Bodyguard', I've put some flesh on the bones of my principles of Self Protection, which is the Awareness Pyramid:-

ASSESSMENT
Opponent - size, build, aggressive, demeanour, body language, numbers, + the 3D's - drunk, drugged and dressed. Clothing can be like body armour - the more layers someone is wearing, the harder they are to hurt. A 20 stone, well built attacker, wearing a vest, 1 shirt, 1 woolly pully, a jacket and overcoat, who's had 12 pints of Guinness, is going to be hard to hurt with bodyshots!

ASSESSMENT = DECISION TIME
This is where PURPOSE should be clearly decided - both yours and his - don't remain under any doubt at this stage as to whether you have a problem or not - if in doubt Front Him or Turn and Get Out of There! You can't afford to wait until the distance is closed and he's on you.

METHOD
The psychology of conflict. The battle takes place well before any physical exchange. Simply making resolute eye contact can warn an intending mugger that you've seen him - once the element of surprise is lost, they will lose interest in you.

Method is also about 'acting'. You have a number of choices to make at this stage depending upon your assessment. You may be aware of one person, but muggers seldom come in ones. What can start as a 'one to one', can end up with you battling against 2 - 3. So - BE CERTAIN.

If conflict is inevitable, then you need to be a good poker player, as you may have to bluff, despite your inner feelings. You can exude aggression and even verbalise this in a torrent of powerful invective. If you're not up to that and you don't have a face like a robber's dog - (which helps with the bluff) - don't attempt it.

Better to appear afraid and incapable, which subterfuge can build over-confidence in your opponent and serve to draw him in to your most suitable and preferred range. You need to practise both these postures and the dialogue which goes with them - they both work and have for me on many occasions.

The aggressive approach will, however, seldom work on drunks, or people whose rational thinking is affected by drugs or a complete loss of self-control and anger. Their imagination, as to what will befall them, that you're so graphically describing, is lost on these people - though it can work well with the casual street 'encounter'.