Over the past 20 years there has been a resurgence of interest in all things close combat related, and specifically those to do with William Ewart Fairbairn.

 

His books and manuals have been reissued and a considerable amount of on-line time has been devoted to his teachings, thoughts, mindset and achievements. However with the exception of a few British film recordings of the man in action teaching the Home Guard in 1941 entitled simply “Unarmed Combat”, the only other known footage of William Fairbairn was filmed during his time in the United States (post 1942) during his service with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

 

However there was a problem. Post war the American films remained elusive. These films at one point almost fell into the “myths and legends” category. Did they in fact exist at all?  

 

The films were created under the auspices of the US military Field Photographic Branch, and according to Phil Matthews in his excellent article about Fairbairn – W.E. Fairbairn: The Legendary Instructor – in total four “gutterfighting” films were made to be distributed to guerrilla fighters, partisans and resistance groups throughout Europe. The 4 topics consisted of Unarmed, Knife Fighting, .45 Pistol, with the last one – Gadgets – apparently never making it to the filming stage.

 

 

It was known that a few collectors had a couple of rare copies that they kept hidden and didn’t see fit to share with the general public. And that was the way it would have stayed until rumblings started to emerge that a gentleman in Australia by the name of Rick Owens had taken on a project not only to track the remaining films down, together with a US based colleague, but also to reproduce two of them – unarmed/knife fighting – onto a DVD for future generations of close quarter combat students to view. This was, of course, exciting news, and provided a rare chance to see Fairbairn in action, especially after we’d only seen the static drawings and photographs of his earlier works. I had obtained the script for the knife fighting film many years ago, but had long since given up the hope of ever actually getting to watch the films in their entirety.

 

However that was soon to change. The DVD’s were finally released in early July 2011, and a little over a week later it dropped on my mat.

 

So to the review proper…

 

The DVD itself comes in a high quality case resplendent with a picture of WEF on the cover armed with his fighting knife. The rear of the case has enough informative “blurb” to successfully set the scene for the few people who weren’t totally sure what they’d just bought!! The actual DVD comprises 3 main elements – Fighting Knife – Unarmed – Subtitles, and it runs in total for 26 minutes.

 

I’d personally suggest that the subtitles are engaged during viewing as it only enhances the information flow, and really doesn’t distract the eye too much. That is unless you happen to speak German or Greek fluently, as these copies were made to be dropped to the peoples of Europe towards the latter part of the War.

 

The Fighting Knife opens with a quaint scene of 3 officers enjoying tea, biscuits and a gentlemanly chat about silent killing!

 

It is constructed to allow Fairbairn to engage in the topic at hand – namely knife combat. He discusses with the audience the proper mindset, application and methodology of using the double edged commando knife for “gutterfighting.”

 

There are numerous displays on show of Fairbairn demonstrating his knife play with slashes at various speeds, to stance and movement (“knees over toes”), to lunging practise (shades of traditional sports fencing on show here).

 

 

What was of surprise in this chapter was Fairbairn demonstrating some reverse grip techniques, used alternately as an escape and as a close range slashing method. This section finished off with some nice displays of defence against “mob attacks” with Fairbairn, as ever, extolling the virtues of aggressive determination.

 

 

The Fighting Knife section was informative for me partly because it gives a chance to see Fairbairn physically “in action,” but also because it was good to see the “origins” of the modern combative knife techniques that have been taken up by the instructors of today.

 

The second section, simply entitled “Unarmed” opens with a bespectacled Fairbairn wearing a smart shirt and tie. This seems a bit incongruous at first; I mean can you imagine any of today’s instructors turning up to shoot a video wearing business attire!

 

Then when you realise exactly WHO the film was aimed at – agents, saboteurs, couriers, resistance operatives – you realise that these people didn’t walk around in combat gear, they were everyday citizens (clothes and all) and had to act like such, and if need be fight like such. So in a very real sense the images of an elderly gentleman finishing off the enemy hand to hand would have spoken to them on a practical level.

 

Fairbairn opens with the now infamous phrase that “In a sense, this picture is for fools...Because you should never be without a pistol or a knife. However, in case you are caught unarmed, foolishly or otherwise, the tactics shown here increase your chances of coming out alive…”

 

He starts by showing what we at the Modern Combatives Group term the Big “3” close combat techniques consisting of the Tiger Claw, Chin Jab and Edge of Hand blow. He supplements this with various aspects of the “Boot Kick.”

 

 

I personally got the most from the “Unarmed” section of the DVD. I have been practising these techniques since the early 1980’s, and over the years have witnessed lots of peoples “take” on them (some good, some bad), especially the Tiger Claw, so it was nice to see the techniques being performed by the man himself. 

 

From these core techniques Fairbairn stresses the use of pre-emption and flexibility as to which strikes you should use in any given situation. You simply adapt to what is in front of you, and ACT!

 

The section finishes off with escapes from a variety of grabs, holds and chokes most notably the classic bear hug and rear attacks. Throughout all of these Fairbairn constantly stresses hitting first and emphasises to ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK!

 

Overall I was highly impressed with the quality of both the DVD and the service provided by “Rick in Oz” and another nice touch I thought was the facility for the viewer to download the original scripts in PDF form from his web-site. This gives a nice balance that allows you to use them as a reference point whilst watching the DVD.

 

In short the Gutterfighting: Fighting Knife/Unarmed DVD should be a part of every serious student of modern combatives and close quarter combat’s “combat library.”

 

Hopefully in the not too distant future we will also be able to enjoy the 3^rd instalment “Shooting to Live” and actually be able to hear from WEF (explaining in English) the finer points of his point shooting system.

 

Enjoy!

 

For details on how to purchase the DVD and download the PDF’s check out the web-site;