THE OSS COMBAT MANUAL Hardcover EditionIt was old school military combatives; the type that was developed by W. E. Fairbairn, Eric Sykes, and others in the era before the start of World War II. It was a style known by many names, among them Defendu, Gutter fighting, and the more polite Fairbairn Method. It was the style of fighting that was taught to British Commandos, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and, later, to American covert operatives of the Office of Strategy Services (OSS).