Defendu

British close quarters martial art

フェアバーン・システム

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Type

martial arts, self-defense

Close Quarters Combat System (commonly known as Defendu, also called gutter fighting) is a hybrid martial art utilized by British military personnel, notably during the Second World War. It was developed by William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes in the 1920s.

It is a hand-to-hand combat system based on practical experience mixed with jujutsu and Chinese martial arts that was developed to train the Shanghai Municipal Police, and was later taught in expanded form to Special Operations Executive and Office of Strategic Services members during World War II.

External links

• Wikipedia
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q8469033 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.