The Fairbairn / Sykes Commando Knife

The Fairbairn-Sykes Commando Knife

This article is posted for informational use only. The techniques shown can be dangerous. Use them at your own risk. The author takes no responsibility for your use or misuse of this information.

W. E Fairbairn made a name for himself at the Shanghai Municipal Police. He devised a practical system of hand-to-hand combat that was easy to learn, easy to use and very effective. He called his method Defendu. In 1940, Western powers left Shanghai. Fairbairn used his experience to teach the British Home Guard. He then taught the British Commandos and the American O.S.S.

A Version of the F.S. Commando Knife

Fairbairn and his partner, E.A. Sykes, developed a combat knife for the commandos. It was a simple dagger with a foil-type handle. The knife was light and easy to handle. This was primarily a thrusting weapon, though students were also taught a few basic slashes.

Daggers have been around since the days of the ancient Egyptians. They are double edged knives, usually triangular in shape. Daggers are strictly a combat weapon. They have little use as camp or field knives.

Fairbairn was sent to America, where he began teaching the Army and the O.S.S. Here he partnered with Colonel Rex Applegate. Fairbairn shared his experience in hand-to-hand combat, knife and stick fighting, and combat pistol craft. With Applegate, he further refined his techniques.
Rex Applegate taught the Fairbairn-based method ever after. His last book, Combat Use of the Double-Edged Fighting Knife was printed in 1993.

The commando knife went through several variations, some better than others. Manufacture was done by several companies. The best examples came from Sheffield, England.

The technique for using the Fairbairn-Sykes dagger was mostly a series of strikes. It was held like a fencing foil. Fairbairn outlines several strikes in his books “Get Tough” and “All-in-Fighting”. Similar instruction was included in Applegate’s work. In the 1971 version of Army Field Manual 21-150 Combatives, the Fairbairn-Applegate training is given right down to holding a bayonet or combat knife.

W.E. Fairbairn in knife-fighting stance

The original commando knives had their weaknesses. The blade could break at the hilt and the point could snap off. Of course, it all depended on the particular manufacturer. Not all knives were equal.

Commando knives were copied by the US Marine Raiders and the First US / Canadian Special Forces (Devil’s Brigade). There are other variations of the Fairbairn-Sykes knife. Various nuances of handle type, place of manufacture, etc., are popular with collectors of this particular weapon.

Here is the proper grip

Here is the stance advocated by Applegate and Fairbairn

Rex Applegate in stance

Fairbairn/Applegate stance (left)

The method was right for dagger and thrusting blades. It was taught by the Army and Marine Corps for the bayonet / combat knife from the M3 Trench knife and bayonets up to the M7. (See my article on the M3 Combat knife)*

A copy of Applegate’s instructions were included with custom knives by Randall.

Here is a video of a veteran of the Commandos explaining use of the knife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=uDGHKyB3T_U

You can download a copy of the last edition of Applegate’s “Kill or Be killed” here: https://ia800308.us.archive.org/25/items/milmanual-fmfrp-12-80-kill-or-get-killed/fmfrp_12-80_kill_or_get_killed.pdf

Copies of Fairbairn's "Get Tough" can be downloaded from various places on the Internet.

*My previous article on the Mk III Trench knife: http://thorsmanstuff.blogspot.com/2018/04/classic-combat-knives-mk-iii-trench.html

Toy commando with dagger by Airfix

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I have been fascinated with military close combat systems for some time. Most interesting are those developed from 1939 to 1955. I had a copy of the Combatives manual used b ythe Army at the time I was there. I took Charles Nelson’s self defense course, which was actually a course in the O’Neill system as taught in Shanghai  prior to `1940. That led me to the works of Fairbairn & Sykes, Colonel Rex Applegate, A. J. D. Biddle, John Styers, and others. The history of it is intriguing and the methods are surprisingly effective.

Unfortunately, health problems have curtailed my actual participation in these things.

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