Hand-to-hand combat

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Hand-to-hand combat (sometimes abbreviated as HTH or H2H) is a lethal or nonlethal physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range (grappling distance) that does not involve the use of firearms or other distance weapons.[1] While the phrase "hand-to-hand" appears to refer to unarmed combat, the term is generic and may include use of striking weapons used at grappling distance such as knives, sticks, batons, or improvised weapons such as entrenching tools.[1] While the term hand-to-hand combat originally referred principally to engagements by military personnel on the battlefield, it can also refer to any personal physical engagement by two or more combatants, including police officers and civilians.[1]



Hand-to-hand combat is the most ancient form of fighting known. A majority of cultures have their own particular histories related to close combat, and their own methods of practice. There are many varieties within the martial arts, including boxing and wrestling. Other variations include the gladiator spectacles of ancient Rome and medieval tournament events such as jousting.

Military organizations have always taught some sort of unarmed combat for conditioning and as a supplement to armed combat. Soldiers in China were trained in unarmed combat as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1022 BCE to 256 BCE).[2]

Despite major technological changes such as the use of gunpowder, the machine gun in the Russo-Japanese War and the trench warfare of World War I, hand-to-hand fighting methods such as bayonet remained common in modern military training, though the importance of formal training declined after 1918. During the Second World War, bayonet fighting was often not taught at all among the major combatants;[citation needed] by 1944 German rifles were even being produced without bayonet lugs.

Modern hand-to-hand combat techniques[edit]

Close Quarters Combat, or World War II combatives, was largely codified by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes. Also known for their eponymous Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, Fairbairn and Sykes had worked in the Shanghai Municipal Police of the International Settlement (1854-1943) of Shanghai in the 1920s; widely acknowledged as the most dangerous port city in the world due to a heavy opium trade run by organised crime (the Chinese Triads).






Although hand-to-hand fighting was accorded less importance in major militaries after World War II, insurgency conflicts such as the Vietnam War, low intensity conflict and urban warfare have prompted many armies to pay more attention to this form of combat. When such fighting includes firearms designed for close-in fighting, it is often referred to as Close Quarters Battle (CQB) at the platoon or squad level, or Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) at higher tactical levels.

Modern usage[edit]

The chokehold demonstrated in hand-to-hand combat training.

Military systems[edit]

Hand-to-hand historical battles[edit]

  • The Battle of Isandlwana, the first battle in the Anglo-Zulu War, turned into close combat when the British exhausted their ammunition and resulted in a decisive victory for the Zulus over the modern British army.
  • On October 22, 1986, during the Pudu Prison siege, the Special Actions Unit (special ops unit of the Royal Malaysia Police) turned to hand-to-hand combat, using batons and rattan canes, after the Malaysian Prime Minister ordered the resolution of the hostage crisis without the use of firearms. The result was a victory for the police, and the five prisoners holding hostages in Pudu Prison were arrested. This was a successful hostage rescue mission with the assault team resolving the crisis without firearms, using hand-to-hand combat to subdue the prisoners and rescue the hostages.

See also[edit]


  2. ^ See Jiao li.
  4. ^ "History of Modern Self-Defence". 
  5. ^ Army Times Article [1].
  6. ^ Air Force Times article [2].

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]