In this special Martial Edge series, we reproduce the martial arts techniques of the US Armed Forces and British Commandos from the Second World War as recorded by Major W. E Fairbairn in 1943. His ground breaking manual Get Tough was published in New York and London. Extreme caution advised…

Deliver edge-the-hand blows with the inner (i.e. little-finger) edge e hand, fingers straight and close together, thumb ext contact is made with the edge only, about half-wav between the knuckle of the little finger and the wrist, as shown in Fig. 1.

1. Deliver the blow with a bent arm (never with a straight arm),

using a chopping action from the elbow, with the weight of the body behind it. Practise by striding the open palm of your left hand, as in Fig. 2.

2. There are two ways in which this blow can be delivered:

(a) Downwards, with either hand;

(b) Across, with cither hand; the blow always

being delivered outwards, with the palm of

the hand downwards, never on top (Fig. 3).

3. Attack the following points on your opponent's body, delivering every blow as quickly as possible:

(a) The sides or back of the wrist;

(b) The forearm, half-way between the wrist

and elbow;

(c) The biceps;

(d) The sides or back of the neck;

(e) Just below the "Adam's apple";

(f) The kidneys or base of the spine.

Author Profile: Major W. E Fairbairn

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Major W.E. Fairbairn recorded the fighting techniques of British and American Special Forces during the Second World War.

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Keywords : special forces, martial arts, hand to hand combat, combat, us special, marines, sas, martial artist, strike

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