CAUTION: THE SYSTEM OF WORLD WAR II COMBATIVES DESCRIBED IN CONNECTION WITH THE SYLLABUS OF CAPTAIN W.E. FAIRBAIRN TAUGHT DURING WORLD WAR II ARE MILITARY COMBAT TECHNIQUES. NEVER USE THEM, BECAUSE YOU WILL HURT SOMEBODY A LOT. EVEN IN THE HANDS OF AN UNTRAINED CIVILIAN, THE FAIRBAIRN SYLLABUS CAN CAUSE SERIOUS BODILY HARM AND DEATH. CONSULT LOCAL LAW TO DETERMINE WHAT IS PERMITTED UNDER THE LAWS OF YOUR JURISDICTION IN THE WAY OF SELF-DEFENSE. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND THE LAWS OF SELF-DEFENSE AND THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR HARM TO YOU OR OTHERS IN CONNECTION WITH THE TECHNIQUES DISCUSSED BELOW.
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Some people know more than you do. Listen to them.
So says the “Most Interesting Man in the World” beer commercial, which make me laugh uncontrollably; in fact, the Most Interesting Man in the World also has a comment about appropriate techniques for use in self-defense.
Well, if anybody ever knew a lot about fighting, and sorted through techniques that worked and didn’t work, that would have been Captain W.E. Fairbairn, who assembled the techniques and the syllabus sometimes referred to as the system of “World War II Combatives”.
As an aside, the Germans pooped in their pants when they became aware that the good guys were training in the Fairbairn combatives techniques, and they gave Fairbairn the supreme compliment of publishing a book of counters to the Fairbairn syllabus.
Captain Fairbairn was given a task that was simple. But not easy. His mission impossible, if he agreed to accept it, was to turn everyone in Great Britain, starting with the Commandos, and then the various armed forces, and then the civilian population, into trained and brutally effective hand-to-hand combatants.
In about an hour. Maybe a week or two, if it was the commandos.
Now, that’s not a project that would be given to just anybody. And Captain Fairbairn wasn’t just anybody.
His flyleaf biography points out that he was the first foreigner (their word, not mine) to be awarded the “Black Belt Degree” from the Kodokan. And was then awarded Second Dan.
You think that took moxie in 1931?
Uh, yeah.
He also studied Chinese Boxing. And everything else.
He also assembled and trained and managed the first Swat Teams, called “Riot Squads”, in Shanghai, where he had been beaten and left for dead by a gang of Triads; I think that was a motivating factor for him in studying various forms of unarmed and armed offense and defense.
Still, even if you know every variety of attack and defense (and there’s nothing new under the sun, kiddies), the real challenge is how to decide what to teach troops going into harm’s way in World War II.
And the decision making project is a huge one, primarily because they needed to be very effective at killing their opponents during World War II because, well, it was war, not cricket!
Apparently it was somewhat difficult to get the British past the whole “fair fight” kind of mentality, and into the “killing by attacking the attacker” point of view.
Recap: Captain William Fairbairn, after thirty years service with the Riot Squads of the Shanghai Municipal Police, which he trained and organized, was tasked with turning farmboys into professional killers, with their hands, knives, sticks and firearms.
And then with turning the postman back home into a professional killer; and the milkman, and the waitress.
World War II was special; read about it sometime.
So the obvious difference between Shotokan Karate and Defendu, the Fairbairn system, was the syllabus, which in the case of Shotokan Karate is gigantic, and in the case of Defendu in its most refined form a maximum of thirty-one unarmed techniques, and in all about forty-five techniques, because unlike modern Shotokan Karate, it did teach the use of weapons (including the Smatchet and the F-S Fighting Knife, which was really more of a killing knife than a fighting knife), and the use of sticks or even umbrellas as weapons.
But Fairbairn went further, and suggested that instead of learning the thirty or so unarmed techniques adequately, the combatant learn about ten very, very well.
He did not teach breakfalls or groundfighting to troops going to war, for reasons that seem well thought-out to me. He understood breakfalls and groundfighting very well, thank you, because he was a second-dan Judoka, of course.
But here’s the primary difference between the Fairbairn Syllabus and fighting system, and the Shotokan Syllabus: the philosophy and purpose of the discipline.
In Japanese terms, Fairbairn taught a Jutsu, and Shotokan teaches a Do.
And Shotokan has developed as a martial art with a defensive philosophy over the years, based partly on the translation of the one of the maxims known as “The Dojo Kun”, which includes “Refrain From Violent Behavior”.
And Defendu is certainly violent behavior, which advocates pre-emptive attacks upon an opponent when you believe yourself in danger. The Fairbairn fighting system is almost the definition of violent behavior!
And that, as you certainly noticed, is the other massive philosophical difference between “There is no first strike in karate” Shotokan, and “do unto others first and fast and worst, then get out” philosophy of Defendu.
As an aside, note that Fairbairn wrote several books. They included a book of self defense for women, a book about self defense in wartime, a book primarily aimed at policemen and civilians in moderately safe environments (that book includes more defensive and restraining techniques, which Fairbairn thought had less place in wartime).
Fairbairn points out, as to restraining techniques, that if you try to take an enemy combatant captive, he will resist to the fullest of his ability, and that you will first need to soften him up with blows to make him decide that capture beats the alternatives (in the same way that getting older beats the alternatives).
So there you have two bodies of fighting technique that are close to endpoints on a line.
Shotokan takes a very long time to achieve competent performance of the syllabus, and there are a lot of exams along the way to test proficiency, with judges. Defendu takes very little time to become proficient, and the only test of your performance is whether you come back home with your shield or on it.
Shotokan, as a traditional style of karate, teaches kata as a part of its syllabus, and a lot of kata at that. The Fairbairn fighting system and syllabus teaches exactly zero kata, and instead teaches only the handful of offensive techniques chosen by Fairbairn (note that his choice of most favorite techniques changed over time, because he had the luxury over 30 years with his Riot Squads to teach and find out what worked well and what didn’t work. The “Rock Crusher” Technique, for instance, didn’t make the cut in his more mature work).
Note, again, that I said “offensive techniques” when I addressed the Fairbairn fighting system; there are no defensive techniques to speak of, because the entire orientation of the system is to attack the attacker.
Shotokan is a Do, and wants to make you a better person in some ways, although Rob Redmond contests that assertion, and Rob Redmond is very smart; Defendu, as a Jutsu, wants to make you a more effective offensive fighter during war, and to do so as quickly as possible.
Shotokan has warm-ups, strength exercises, and techniques for self-defense. Defendu has techniques that you are instructed to use without warning when you are being questioned by Germans and need to escape, and no warm-ups, strength exercises, or stretching exercises.
Shotokan is primarily designed as a discipline for a settled, well-lit, controlled environment with referees and rules and uniforms. Defendu is designed for chaotic, unpredictable environments and broken ground, not polished dojo floors and bare feet.
And Shotokan gave up the practice of weapons (wisely) when it became clear that General MacArthur thought that subject populations like the Japanese shouldn’t practice with weapons on his watch. Defendu takes the overall position that if you are empty-handed and unarmed during a violent confrontation, something has gone very, very wrong indeed.
The path of Shotokan Karate, which has given rise to many competing systems, all of which are quite similar to it, and Defendu, which has given rise to competing systems and complementary systems, are parallel paths that do not converge.
Both have similar and sometimes identical techniques, and both involve physical conflict.
But one is for practice in civilian life, and is designed to make you healthy, strong and flexible, with good wind, based on practice over your lifetime, and generally to teach participants to avoid actual fights.
The other, Defendu, is designed to permit you to survive behind enemy lines, and if you happen to kill an enemy combatant in the process, good on you!
And the syllabus of Shotokan Karate includes many of the techniques of Defendu, which makes sense.
But Shotokan doesn’t use most of them in free-sparring exercises, for a simple reason: somebody would get seriously dead if those techniques were used in Shotokan sporting contests, which is why they are not.
There is an interesting variation in the uses of the Shuto (knife hand) in Defendu; Fairbairn advocates that it be used in a downward stroke, and an outward stroke, but never to strike with the palm-up edge-of-hand.
I don’t know why he advocates as he does, but I’ll try to find out when I get a Round Tuit, and I’ll get back to you on that.
I have embedded a few videos of Defendu being taught both by modern instructors and also in ancient military training films. The ancient military classes on film will look funny to you, I suspect, and they look a little funny to me, as well.
But that doesn’t mean I’d want to get in a fight with the guys in the funny looking black and white videos below, back when they were saving the world for real, as opposed to talking about saving the world, which some people apparently like to do.
And, seriously, while one of the videos involves guys in fatigues wearing masks, understand that espionage was one of the weapons of war during the Big One. And since they were training guys for behind the lines work, they didn’t want to advertise who they were training.
And here’s a U.S. Training Film showing similar approaches to hand-to-hand combatives:
The “Chin Jab”, favored by Fairbairn, is taught by modern combatives instructors who know their stuff. Here’s Kelly McCann, who discusses Fairbairn’s version of the technique:
Here’s the late, great Carl Cestari, who knew more about World War II Combatives than anyone else after Applegate passed; sadly, he’s teaching now in a dojo in the sky. If you can get all of the old Carl Cestari dvds, you really, really want to do that; while the production values of the old school Carl Cestari DVDs is lousy, the information is incomparable. His later seminars on DVD are also very useful:
And here you see Carl Cestari, again, teaching a variation of the chin jab:
And here’s Carl Cestari teaching the “Tigerclaw” technique, also a Fairbairn favorite:
