Fairbairn-Sykes Commando Dagger

by Leroy Thompson, Howard Gerrard (Illustrator)

Overview

The Fairbairn-Sykes Commando dagger has become iconic as the most widely recognized fighting knife in the world. The origins of the dagger can be traced to Shanghai in the 1930s where W. E. Fairbairn and US Marine officers including Sam Yeaton carried out experiments in developing what they considered the perfect knife for close combat.

When Fairbairn and Sykes became instructors for the Commandos, they refined the design which would evolve into the classic Fairbairn-Sykes dagger. The dagger was first used during early Commando raids into occupied Europe but saw action in every theatre of World War II (1939-1945). US Rangers and Marines who had trained with the Commandos took their Fairbairn-Sykes daggers home which also influenced the development of American Special Forces daggers. The Fairbairn-Sykes remained in use with many units after the war, and has become a symbol of commando and special forces units throughout the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849084314
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	03/22/2011
Series:	Weapon , #7
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	9.54(w) x 7.24(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Leroy Thompson has trained military and police special-operations units around the world, focusing especially on the tactical use of firearms. He is the author of more than 50 books, including The Colt 1911 Pistol and The Browning High-Power Pistol for Osprey.

Howard Gerrard studied at the Wallasey School of Art and has been a freelance designer and illustrator for over 20 years. He has won both the Society of British Aerospace Companies Award and the Wilkinson Sword Trophy and has illustrated a number of books for Osprey including Campaign 69: Nagashino 1575 and Campaign 72: Jutland 1916. Howard lives and works in Kent.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Development: A fighting knife for the Commandos 7

Use: Fighting Hitler with cold steel 37

Impact: The icon of special forces 63

Conclusion 70

Appendix 72

Further Reading 78

Index 80

Editorial Reviews

Thompson painstakingly describes the differences in detail of each Fairbairn-Sykes commando dagger variant, whether of those of direct lineage or those influenced by the design. Many photographs, whether from the WW2-era or modern close-ups of items in various collections, give good visual to the author's descriptions.” —C. Peter Chen, www.ww2db.com

From the Publisher