Developed by William E. Fairbairn and Eric
Anthony Sykes. It is a hand to hand combat system based on jujutsu that was
developed to train the Shanghai Municipal Police, and was later taught in
expanded form to Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Special Operations
Executive (SOE) members during World War II.Based on his training at 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, Defendu.
To put it simply, Fairbairn's methods worked.
His system of unarmed combat made it possible for a person of average
strength and skills to meet and win against a highly trained opponent in the
martial arts. His unparalleled experience with knife attacks and attacks
with blunt instruments, unlikely to be duplicated in this day and age,
proved a sound basis for instruction in the use of or defense against edged
weapons, batons and clubs. His theories of close-quarter use of the gun
represent the first systematic approach to combat pistol-craft ever devised,
and remains valid to this very day. The same may be said for his riot work,
his concepts of countersniping, and his development of the police role in
urban combat.
WWII was the Zenith of all methods of Close-Quarters Combat. The
contributions made by these men are of enormous value to us today. Methods
of close combat that were battle tested and have been proven effective under
conditions of actual combat are obviously of great importance to anyone
seeking realistic and effective training in personal combat.
