Fairbairn had joined the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) in 1907 and served with them for some twenty years. - Much of his body was said to be covered in scars from hundreds of street fights involving knife attacks. He had developed a stileto type of knife, precise as a surgeons scalpel, ideal for his style of street fighting in a flashing, slashing vigorous offense that invariably proved fatal to his opponent.
When asked in Burma, - behind the Japanese lines in WW2 - "Why is it so long and thin?" he answered "It doesn't have a cutting edge, - It doesn't leave any marks on the body - scarcely more than a tiny drop of blood." Fairbairn and Sykes had together designed the narrow double edged , sharply pointed knife while both were in the Shanghai police long before the war.
The very first batch of fifty knives to their design was built January 1941, as the 'FAIRBAIRN-SYKES' Fighting Knife by Wilkinson Sword in England - following a visit to that factory in November 1940 by both men. - Knives to this pattern are still being made by various factories to this day worldwide.
First Pattern knives had a 6.5 inch (17cm) blade, whereas the original Shanghai knives were said to be only 5.5 inches (14cm) blades. - Second Pattern blades were longer again at 18cm - just under seven inches - The longer blades are said to have been made to ensure proper penetration through military winter greatcoats on the Russian Front - with later patterns being 19cm (7.5 inches long).
Sykes joined the SMP in 1926 as a volunteer 'Special' with rank of Inspector, and later he and Fairbairn worked together on various military special operations until a falling-out in 1946 after they had co-authored the classic book on pistol combat 'Shooting To Live' in 1942.- Their books are all available from Amazon on Kindle.
Rex Applegate, borne in Oregon in 1914 was commissioned into the US Army(1940) and the OSS where he closely studied combat with Fairbairne and had contact with Sterling, the Founder of the British Commandos. In 1943 he wrote 'Kill Or Get Killed' . At one point during the war he was personal body-guard to President Franklin D Roosevelt - and as a friend of John Wayne, - he taught Wayne how to shoot.
Applegate while a student of Fairbairn, worked-up a series of modifications to the F-S Knife, culminating in the Applegate-Fairbairn Fighting Knife
APPLEGATE-FAIRBAIRN FIGHTING KNIFE
The blade is similar to but wider than the F-S, but the handle is much flatter and has provision for internal lead or steel weights to refine the balance - and may currently be bought from Boker.
It is very clear that these three gentlemen, who between them authored many books - left their mark on the way all-out warfare was conducted by the Allies Special Forces - their influence continues even to this day. - However, it is worrying that a whole generation seems to have forgotten or to have gone into denial of the facts - so much so that here in NZ their double-edged knives are now deemed "banned imports" and require a special Police application / Permit that has to be completed with 'special reasons' for possession.
.- No question but that those three World War 2 heroes would be subject to much 'politically correct' and agressive media questioning today, and would need to be highly circumspect with their answers.
Marty K
After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?
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