ANALYZING WWII GUTTER-FIGHTING KNIFE WORK

Tiga Tactics has developed a self-defense method distilled from more than a dozen different styles learned by co-founders Dr. Conrad Bui and Patrick Vuong. Long before either of them was born, the now-famous Lt. Colonel W.E. Fairbairn developed a combatives system for training soldiers in World War II based off his experiences with the Shanghai police.

Thanks to YouTube and someone uploading an old copy in Greek, you can now watch some of Fairbairn’s training methodology. I was curious to see how his World War II combatives compared to the Tiga Tactics’ suite of courses, which were developed by Conrad and Patrick after watching hundreds of real attacks captured on closed-circuit TV (CCTV) and cellphone footage.

Here are some overlapping points and some ways that were wildly different:

• Sophistication Through Simplicity: Fairbairn knew that he didn’t have a lot of time to get young soldiers ready for war. In fact in the video, he cites that he can teach you knife work in “only a half hour.” Tiga Tactics also understands that not everyone wants to be a martial artist taking multiple years to prepare for a possible attack.
  
  Both systems focus on simplicity in techniques. Rather than teach a dozen steps you won’t remember, both emphasize simplicity to ensure you’ll be able to remember the moves during high stress. For Tiga Tactics, this comes in the form of their Toolbox — which is crucial to getting your strikes into play under pressure or whether you’re stopping a lethal weapon or creating space to draw your own EDC Knife.
  
  
• Shadow-fighting: Most of the video has Fairbairn working solo without a training partner. This is simply shadowboxing or solo training. Tiga Tactics’ methods work best with a partner, but you can still learn many of the moves by yourself in the comfort of your own home through their full lineup of online courses. Tiga Tactics also uses shadowfighting as part of their training progression — an important part of any system that allows you to build muscle memory for all of your techniques.
  
  
• Mindset: In the beginning of the video Fairbairn mentions the importance of mindset by telling the audience the only outcomes are “kill or be killed” (a phrase made famous by one of his successors, Colonel Rex Applegate, who used it as a title of his book). This importance of mindset mirrors many of the mindset training Tiga Tactics teaches — including the motto, “run if you can, destroy if you must.
  
  
• Maintaining Good Base: Fairbairn spends a fair amount of time in the 12-minute video talking about foot placement, balance, and footwork. This is an often-overlooked part of martial arts or combatives training by beginners. Tiga Tactics knows the value of this not only for their EDC Knife course but they have a whole series focused on the importance of maintaining and reestablishing your base through the Antigrappling series.
  
  
• Body Movement Behind the Blade: Whether you have taken EDC Knife, EDC Karambit or Machete Fighting courses, you’ve heard Dr. Conrad talk about the importance of using body mechanics behind the blade. Fairbairn also emphasizes this in his instructional video.
  
  
• Carrying, Drawing, and Repeating: For a 12-minute video, Fairbairn crams a lot in, and if you don’t pay attention you’ll miss some of the important lessons. He briefly mentions where to carry and the importance of drawing directly into a strike. Although glossed over in his video, if you take EDC Knife or EDC Karambit you’ll get plenty of repetitions through the Tiga Tactics methodology of slow, smooth, and fast. Then if you come to an in-person seminar, you’ll get a ton of repetitions often disguised as games or competitions to further refine the one part you will 100% use if you need your blade for self-defense: drawing the tool.
  
  

Not every Fairbairn technique transferred over well, including grip on blade and practice rolling the knife in your hands. This runs counter to what Tiga Tactics teaches and the importance of the “death grip” on your blade — because if you lose your grip, you’re (probably) going to die. Although the Lieutenant Colonel later says to grip the knife “viciously,” I think Tiga Tactics’ grip recommendations provide a more stable grasp when pressure tested.

I’m not saying that you should watch Fairbairn’s knife video and use that as your primary method of self-defense. I’m simply saying I think it is interesting to see how far we have come, what principles remain the same, and what has changed over time now that we have more data from things like CCTV showing real attacks.

Watch the 12-minute historic video for free here and then sign up to update the knowledge with Tiga Tactics with their online courses updated for modern times.