This is the remarkable story of how Col. Rex Applegate, William Fairbairn, Eric Sykes and Wild Bill Donovan trained and employed OSS and MID commandos during WWII. Includes the facts behind the development of point shooting, knife fighting, hand-to-hand combat and a staggering number of other fighting skills as taught by the top instructors of the era. Contains rare archival photos and the Colonel's graphic original lesson plans.

Riot Control is the classic manual on riot-control techniques and equipment by the father of the science of crowd control, Col. Rex Applegate. This invaluable manual supplies complete training information on organizing riot patrols, handling sniper situations, clearing houses, and street fighting, plus a complete survey of modern gear, such as chemical agents, foggers, batons, helmets, firearms and vehicles.

Rex Applegate's "Kill or be Killed" is a timeless classic of WW2 military combatives. Printed in 1943 for military and civil markets, it explores the core techniques and training needed to stay safe in the warzones and combat theatres of the second world war. Kill or Get Killed, via a wide array of photographs and illustrated diagrams explore unarmed combat, use of blades, pistols and sub-machine guns. The manual also provides details on training programs and setting up ranges for skill development. Rex Applegate was famous for his holistic approach in training soldiers and spies in WW2 using his own methods, and those inspired and taught by contemporaries such as W.E Fairbairn. The manual is designed to be an easy-to-follow guide for learning and teaching the tactics, strategies and approaches.

This widely regarded classic represents a volume of biographies of numerous master gunfighters, including such notables as John Wesley Hardin, Billy the Kid, Dallas Stoudenmire, Sam Bass, Wild Bill Hickok, Butch Cassidy, and Tom Horn. Himself a Westerner familiar with the feel of pistol and rifle, Cunningham knew firsthand several of the Texas gunfighters featured in his book, the product of more than 35 years of research, interviews, and writing.

One of the most influential combat shooting books ever published, Shooting to Live is the product of Capt. W.E. Fairbairn's and Capt. E.A. Sykes' practical experience with the handgun from their many close-quarters gunfights while working for the Shanghai Municipal Police in the 1930s. This expanded edition contains a new foreword by British World War II combatives expert Phil Mathews, which sheds new light on the career of E.A. Sykes - the "forgotten hero" of the Fairbairn-Sykes duo - as well as previously unpublished photos. Hundreds of actual incidents provided the basis for this first true instruction manual on life-or-death shootouts with the pistol. In clear, concise terms, the book teaches the concepts, considerations and applications of combat pistolcraft. A foreword by Col. Rex Applegate explains how Fairbairn and Sykes introduced their groundbreaking methods into American military training circles at the height of World War II.

The Complete Book of Urban Combatives is based on what Lee Morrison teaches in his Urban Combatives (UC) curriculum. Morrison formed UC after 22 years of researching various Asian and Western methods of combat, incorporating the teachings of W.E. Fairbairn and E.A. Sykes, Charles Nelson, Geoff Thompson, Bob Kasper, and Kelly McCann, to name just a few. Morrison's reality-based UC is neither a sport nor an art. It is designed to counter street violence. Having been in his share of real blood-and-snot fights, first as a somewhat misguided youth and later as a doorman at pubs and nightclubs, Morrison knows that 30 seconds on the street is worth three years in the dojo any day of the week. His hard-earned experience also taught him that no one system has all the answers, necessitating that you keep an open mind and stay on the cutting edge of combatives. At UC, the essence of good self-protection is threefold: Master a few well-honed personal security concepts. Add a realistic understanding of your enemy. Gain an understanding of fear and how you will react under pressure. In this book, Morrison includes attribute-developing drills to help you develop these and other key combatives principles, as well as the combative mentality that must accompany every aspect of your training. The goal is to provide you with a functional game plan that can be tapered to your specific needs, whether for personal protection, or for law enforcement, military, or executive-protection duties.

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was the paramount Allied sabotage force of the Second World War. Its job - in Churchill's words - was to "set Europe ablaze" through the use of sabotage, insurrection and assassination. One of its "shining Stars" and "legends" was the close-combat pistol instructor, Colonel Hector Grant-Taylor. Grant-Taylor taught the commandos, secret agents and irregular soldiers the art of how to kill at close quarters. He taught them how to be ruthless, lethal and covert, and yet his own life was itself a mystery worthy of a John Buchan thriller novel. Misinformation, deception, bravery, murder, and ultimately redemption, all play a part in his story. At Close Quarters finally puts to rest the myths and legends that surrounded his life, and unravels the mysterious truth behind the enigma that was Colonel Hector Grant-Taylor!