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They
learned the art of silent killing, perfected by W.E. Fairbairn, the
legendary British Major, sometimes known as "Delicate Dan." Knife
strokes taught, should be upward, from the testicles to the chin. The
hand in a "tiger claw" position was most effective for gouging out
eyes. A single sheet of newspaper, they learned, could become a crude
dagger. Fold the paper to approximately six inches by two inches. Then
fold it diagonally to form a sharp point at one end. Drive the pointed
end hard into the stomach or under the jaw, just behind the chin.
Book: Piercing The Reich
Author: Joseph E. Persico
British
Major Dan Fairbairn, who had been chief of police in Shanghai before
the Japanese capture of the city, taught the Fairbairn method of
assault and murder. His course was not restricted to Camp X but later
given at OSS camps in the United States. All of us who were taught by
Major Fairbairn soon realized that he had an honest dislike for
anything that smacked of decency in fighting.
"To
him, there were no rules in staying alive. He taught us to enter a
fight with one idea; to kill an opponent quickly and efficiently," said
Ray Peers.
Fairbairn
had invented a stiletto as precise as a surgeon's scalpel. He wielded
it with a flashing, slashing vigor that invariably proved fatal to an
opponent.
"Why
is it so long and thin?" I asked him one day in a question period
during my own course of instruction. "It doesn't have a cutting edge."
"It doesn't leave any marks on the body," he replied. "Scarcely more than a tiny drop of blood."
Fairbairn
taught his trainees to fire anything from a pistol to a BAR at close
quarters, by aiming with the body. In unarmed combat he overcame one
hulking trainee after another. With a wry smile the wiry major would
admonish his bruised and bleeding students, "Don't let anybody lead you
down the garden path."
Book: Behind Japanese Lines
Author: Richard Dunlop
On January 24th, 1933, he wrote me:
"This
man Fairbairn is beyond the shadow of a doubt the greatest of "the
greatest of them all." I've had about 12 hours of conferences with him
and done a couple of hour's work on the mats. His stuff is not
jiu-jitsu or judo - he gave us an exhibition of judo using five men,
two third-degree black belts, two second, and one first, to prove it.
He uses some of their falls and a few holds, but not more than about
20% of it and most with variations. It's not Chinese boxing, of which
80% is mere ritual. It's a collection of all the known methods of dirty
fighting and it will beat them all. He knows it will, he's done it.
Judo is to cleanon every hold a judo man's eyes and testicles are
vulnerable. But it is awful fast; still, it's not as fast as boxing. We
proved that, and to the Japs, at that. Given men of equal speed, it's
the man who is not surprised by the others method of attack who will
win. We put Sam Taxis [the third Sam] who boxes featherweight now
against a third degree judo man [the punches not to be delivered and
the throws not to be carried out] and it was a draw. But we had a man
hold up his hand as a target and Sammy Taxis put a one-two on it while
a man stood beside the hand and tried to grab his hands. All they got
was his necktie. The remarkable thing about Fairbairn is that although
he damn near does know it all, he doesn't seem to think he does. If
you've got an idea, he'll not only listen to you and point out what's
wrong, if anything, but he'll admit if it's new to him and as good or
better than his own current methods."
One
of the motivating causes for the interest in the fighting knife was the
discovery that even Fairbairn ("The Greatest of Them all") had no real
defense against a knife in the hands of trained fighters. We knew a
number of ways of disarming men with pistols, some of them relatively
safe. Even trying to disarm a person with a knife is dangerous, unless
the person attacks with the dramatic "assassin's stab" holding the
knife like an ice-pick overhead. For that kind of stupidity there is a
clear and positive response, fortunately. But even for the Paris
"Apache's" style coming in low, with the knife edge upward and aiming
at the guts, Fairbairn had only two suggestions
A. RUN
B. "With a lighting-like kick of either foot, kick him in the testicles or stomach."
But
when my brother asked him to demonstrate this move, "Willie never even
got up from his deskhe just said, 'You missed the phrase lighting-likeI
don't do lighting-like any more.'"
Book: First Commadno Knives
Author: Prof. Kelly Yeaton, Lt. Col. Samuel Yeaton (USMC), and Col. Rex Applegate
"Another
or our distinguished instructors was a tall spare man - who looked like
a bishop - with steel-rimmed spectacles, a soft voice and wrists of
iron. He was Captain Bill Sykes - formerly of the Shanghai Police - and
he taught unarmed combat and quick shooting reactions such as how to
kill four people in a room whilst falling down on the ground near the
door lintel to make oneself a difficult target. His methods of unarmed
combat and silent killing were such that many were able in the years to
come to save themselves entirely owing to his instructions. The Germans
in 1942 published a pamphlet, which portrayed his methods, and used it
in neutral countries to enlist sympathy against the diabolical British.
'Our man' in Lisbon picked up one or two and sent them to me for
comment with a request for a UK posting, and training with Bill Sykes."
Book: SOE Assignment
Author: Donald Hamilton Hill
"So,
E.A. Sykes had far more of an interesting career in the Far East, than
just being a volunteer special sergeant attached to the sniper squad of
the Shanghai Municipal Police! "As to any 'yarns,' I only recall two
stunts that he performed, and both involved the Government .45 auto.
The first was demonstrated with a proved empty Colt's auto. To
illustrate how pushing a prisoner along with a .45 will push back the
slide and perhaps disconnect the firing mechanism, should the prisoner
know his pistols (!) allowing him to wipe the handgun aside, etc., etc.
"And
the other example, which I saw demonstrated, was after we did the
combat pistol course, and all were felling rather over-confident with
the knock-down power of the issued Colt cartridge, Bill called a
greatcoat-clad sergeant over to stand at the fifty-yard target
backstop. The 'target' stood with feet about thirty inches apart, hands
in overcoat pockets, and holding the garment away from his body. A
loaded 'Thompson' was set at repetition fire mode, and Bill tapped-off
single shots that struck the center of the man's coat. At each shot I
saw his coat 'flick' and I, like everybody present, assumed that the
bullets just hit the multi-layers of cloth and dropped to the earth.
Our greatcoats were double breasted heavy woolen material, with a same
cloth lining, plus a heavy-weave horse hair-like spacer, so that's six
layers. But to this day I wouldn't want to try it!
Captain Peter Mason, retired British Intelligense Officer, now living in Canada
"I
have already told you that Sykes was the instructor who taught me
'silent killing,' amongst other things. Poor Sykes was forgotten like
many other people in Great Britain, and elsewhere. My impression of
Sykes was very favorable and I would have liked to have known him
better. I was the only female in our class and I remember that whenever
he addressed me, or gave me an order, his tone of voice was not so
'crisp' - to coin a common old phrase - 'a thorough gent!' I have
always regretted that I was unable to thank him for all the things he
taught me."
Nancy
Forward (SOE) (Code name "White Mouse") who was famous for her work
with the French Marquis, is one of the few SOE Agents still living
"Of
course, we must remember that in 1939-45 there were still some
'deadheads' in our forces, officers who had not advanced professionally
in civil life, and when called to service life, they were reluctant to
acknowledge they were 'behind' in knowledge. "This was one of the
aspects with both Fairbairn and Sykes; they both openly criticized the
Top Brass, for 'Dog in the Bloody Manger' attitude. These comments
were, in my hearing, openly said to Staff Officers, by both Fairbairn
and Sykes. And they were quite right, the 'Old Guard' of Whitehall
Wafflers who had slept soundly from 1918 to 1939, failed to appreciate
how advanced other nations were, compared to Britain, but the worst
part was the Old Guard were reluctant to allow others who had kept
abreast of the times to circulate their knowledge. Obviously, this was
to protect their own image. This may well have some bearing on the lack
of written work available today, much has been deliberately destroyed
out of jealousy."
ANOTHER LETTER BY PILKINGTON DATED OCTOBER 10, 1995 HE WRITES:
"Following
the disaster of the Norwegian campaign, and then Dunkirk in 1940,
Britain anticipated that Hitler would invade. Desperate measures were
called for, because there was little left in the way of arms or
ammunition, also the nation had suffered a blow to its spirit. "The
Local Defense volunteer Force became, officially, the Home Guard, a
body of willing but untrained men, mostly ex-servicemen from the
1914-18 war. In desperation the Government of the day called in two
officers from the Shanghai Municipal Police. These were Captain W.E.
Fairbairn and Captain E.A. Sykes. "I was introduced to these officers
because I had already qualified in Ju-Jutsu to a Brown Belt. Also I was
about the only man who had been taught Kendo and Indian Lathi. Captain
Fairbairn explained he intended to train a dozen men to become
instructors in killing tactics, who would then go out to teach other
men to become instructors in the Police, Home Guard, and Civil Defense
Corps. These would become the defense of Britain in the event of the
invasion. "I found that Captain Fairbairn was very much in charge.
Captain Sykes had equal authority, and great ability. He was the finest
rifle shot I have ever seen, as well as being very good with the .45
Colt 1911 Automatic pistol. Both officers were very skilled in unarmed
combat also, Fairbairn was obviously the master of various disciplines
and the first team of 12 potential instructors, including me, soon
learned to respect both our tutors. "Captain Fairbairn was very strict,
he insisted that the training he gave aimed at perfection. In
retrospect, I feel both officers gave us all very good ability to
impart knowledge to others. "Captain Fairbairn was a hard man, so was
Sykes [now called Bill Sykes, but most certainly NOT to his face] but
he had a lot more patience. They were two different men, of course.
'Bill Sykes looked like a village person, round faced, he had a mild
look, unlike Fairbairn who looked hard, despite white hair, horned
rimmed glasses giving him the look of a schoolmaster. Bill Sykes was
friendly, but never familiar, he would be a bad man to cross. Once or
twice he did show temper, but then only for a few moments. "We all
learned Fairbairn was married, but we never learned if Sykes was. Apart
from his disclosing that before joining the police, he had been a
representative for Remington Arms and Ammunition organization, we
learned little about him. He did have medal ribbons on his tunic, as
did Fairbairn, but I never tried to remember what these were for.
"Sykes had a very good knowledge of Martial Arts, and like Fairbairn,
he was physically very powerful, and a good boxer. In knife fighting,
both Fairbairn and Sykes were excellent. I thought Fairbairn was the
better of the two, he was a Master of the blade. Sykes was always
relaxed, his moon face was pleasant but you never knew what was on his
mind. He was full of surprises in training. "I did teach a few hundred
people the killing arts, and I am grateful for the training I
experienced with Fairbairn and Sykes, they were really masters of their
craft.
Bill
Pilkington, who was one of the first Cloe Combat Instructors trained by
Fairbairn & Sykes for duty with the Home Guard, still living in
England
Such training in these schools had saved his radio operator, he told
me. When his circuit got "blown" the Gestapo had captured his operator,
a young Frenchman. They searched him, but failed to find the small
automatic hidden in a special holster. [Note: a Colt .380 in a crotch
holster] The pistol following the rule of his masterwas ready cocked
and at "safe." When they had handcuffed him they took him away in a
car. There were three Germans in the car. One beside him in the back
seat. The radio operator had never fired a pistol except in England at
the school where he had been taught like us to snap shoot at cardboard
targets. He was afraid that he would miss. But he was more afraid of
what would happen when he arrived where they were taking him. Despite
his manacles he opened his buttons, pushed down the "safe" lever on his
[gun] and brought it to the point where it would draw freely. A glance
aroundHe held his breath, drew, and fired as he had been taught.
"Bang-bang." Two holes sprang red in the back of the driver's neck. The
car overturned. He shot the other two.
ELSEWHERE MILLER RECORDS:
We
were taught to use the forward-crouching stance and the quick, snap
shooting method. Some of us got so accurate with the pistols that we
were like King George V knocking down driven grouse. The
French-American danced. His legs were tense and springy, but above the
waist, except for his straight right arm, his body was loosely
balanced. As the targets popped up, or darted from one screened side of
the range to the other, his stiff arm leaped to the horizontal and the
automatic, a blue, shining continuation of his arm, spoke
"crack-crack," and again "crack-crack."
Book: Maruis - The Account of a Grench-American Operative
Author: George Miller
This
systeminvolved what was called the "battle crouch position." The gunman
crouched slightly, held the pistol in line with the center of his body.
Soon is became a second forefinger to him. After several periods on a
more or less orthodox range, the students were shown quite an elaborate
little village, which lay at the foot of a steep bluff. At the top of
the cliff a soldier stood beside a set of levers, which looked somewhat
like those in a railway signal-box. The village, we were informed, was
full of Germans. It was our business to kill them all. We were given
two Colt .45 automatics, already loaded and two spare clips of
ammunition apiece. Then, one by one, we were to attack each house in
turn. The door of the first house sprang open in response to a brisk
kick, and the signalman on the top of the bluff went into action. The
houses were fully furnished and fully occupied. No sooner had a dummy,
impelled by wires, leaped out of bed to tackle the intruder and been
shot for his pains, than a trapdoor opened, "men" emerged from beneath
tables, bottles and chairs came hurtling disconcertingly at the
gunman's head. Pistols blazing, one dispatched, as one hoped, all the
occupants of the first house, and dashed to the second, where a fresh
set of hazards presented itself. By the time I had gone through five
houses in a matter of forty-five seconds or so, and had been told that
I had scored a creditable number of hits, I was inclined to feel quite
pleased with myself. Then came the chilling thought that the dummies,
however lifelike their movements, had not been armed.
Book: Amateur Agent
Author: Ewan Butler
Ewan
Butler, an SOE Agent, recalles his training at the hands of E.A. Sykes.
Butler gives a particularly good account of the SOE Assult Course at
Arisaig, just west of Lochailort
In
June of 1940 the bulk of the British army, reeling from the advancing
German blitzkrieg, was evacuated from the French beaches at Dunkirk to
safety across the English Channel. The British nation licked its wounds
and reorganized for a total was effort. It was a discouraging and bleak
picture that faced the nation when Winston Churchill was called from
political obscurity to lead the battle against Germany. In times of
extreme national adversity it is not uncommon-as in Churchill's case-
for gifted men to appear on the scene. Such men were W.E. Fairbairn and
E.A. Sykes. Had it not been for World War II, they well have lived out
their retirements in relative obscurity in the Far East. Then the
modern fighting man would never have benefited from their experiences
and skills in hand-to-hand combat. It was my good fortune, because of
assignment to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), to work with both
"Dan" Fairbairn and "Bill" Sykes. During the six months of 1942, my
association with Fairbairn took place at one of the first OSS training
centers, designated Area B, near Thurmont, Maryland. (The site of Area
B is now known as Camp David and serves as the presidential retreat).
Later in 1942 I had a tour of duty in England in the area of Fort
Williams and Achnacarry, Scotland. It was here that I had the
opportunity to work with Sykes. Both Fairbairn and Sykes were close to
retirement from the Shanghai police when they were called to active
duty and given the rank of captain. They were declared too old for
combat duty and were assigned to training operations. Stories abound,
however, of how they tried to circumvent their noncombat classification
in favor of front-line service. Looking back over forty years to my
associations with these famous fighting men, I have several lasting
impressions. Fairbairn was the more flamboyant and aggressive of the
two. He had a more basic interest in unarmed combat and knife-fighting
techniques. Sykes, a more reserved individual, had more expertise in
firearms. Both excelled in all phases of close combat with and without
weapons. Fairbairn always carried his razor sharp, First Pattern F-S
knife in its sheath sewn to the lining of the right-hand pocket of his
battle dress uniform. He frequently, and unexpectedly, would draw the
knife from its concealed location and place the point at either the
throat of stomach of various OSS personnel whom he was meeting for the
first time. Needless to say, he got their attention and left more then
a lingering impression. One night at the Army and Navy Club in
Washington after a number of scotch and sodas, he stuck himself in the
thigh while sheathing the knife. What the British call a "bloody mess"
ensued. One of my most prized possessions is a Wilkinson Sword F-S
knife given to me by Dan Fairbairn in the summer of 1942. My first
meeting with Sykes was short on conversation. Sykes outfitted me with a
brand new Sten Gun and a Webley revolver and had me run through a
combat course in the basement of a medieval Scottish castle. He had
installed a comprehensive combat range complete with targets in German
uniforms (that fired blanks at the trainee), booby traps, and other
devices. Apparently, I did well enough because a close relationship
with Sykes followed. Sykes died of pneumonia late in the war. After the
end of hostilities, Fairbairn, who spent the later war years in the
United States, was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was active for a
number of years on various training assignments. He died at his home in
England in the 1960s. Both men left a legacy of close combat techniques
and training methods that are in use to this day. But the
Fairbairn-Sykes knife was undoubtedly their most famous contribution to
the fighting men of their own and postwar generations. The
Fairbairn-Sykes Commando dagger in its various configurations is
certainly the most famous, special issue combat blade in modern
military history. Although of British origin, it has become equally
famous on this side of the Atlantic. Its original design has spawned
imitations and variations that are still being manufactured.
Beautifully executed commemorative knives, made by the original
manufacturer, Wilkinson Sword are being marketed to collectors and
persons interested in World War II weapons and memorabilia. As recently
as the Argentine-British war in the Falklands, it was reported that
special units of the British Army. The fighting men and the public
throughout the free world recognizes the symbolism of crossed F-S
knives on shoulder patches and other insignia, indicating elite troops
and offensive military operations.
Col. Rex Applegate
The Army and Navy Club
Washington, D.C.
Book: Commando Dagger
Author: Leroy Thompson
One
of the most remarkable instructors in camp during this period was a
much-traveled Irishman, Dermot ("Pat") O'Neill, a civilian expert whom
Frederick imported to teach hand-to-hand fighting. Before 1941, Pat had
been a detective, a member of a riot squad, and an officer of the
far-famed Shanghai International Police. His reputation for a brand of
fighting in which he mixed jujitsu, karate, and several other methods
of bare-handedly crippling an antagonist, had brought him to the
attention of Colonel William ("Wild Bill") Donovan, who made him a
member of the super-spy organization he was then forming, the O.S.S.***
Though
his Intelligence connections, Burhans had heard of O'Neill and
recommended him to Fredrick. Frederick, overlooking the minor detail
that O'Neill was not an American citizen, said, "Get him for the Force.
We're going to be able to use him." This was an eminently accurate
statement. O'Neill proved so effective a teacher that later, in combat,
a Forceman offhandedly reported, "I killed the Kraut with an O'Neill in
the nuts."
***
Donovan later attempted to remove O'Neill and get him back in the
O.S.S., but Frederick had by this time secured a U.S. commission for
his instructor and kept him in the force.
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