THE IRON HAND of WAR
British experiences in the development of combat shooting.
By DENNIS MARTIN Prior to the First World War the pistol was considered as a rather superfluous close-range weapon, to be fired one handed. The cavalry (the then elite military formation) carried pistols for point blank emergency situations, for use against infantry/ irregulars if the sabre, or, lance had been lost. In this situation the pistol would, of necessity, be fired one-handed, since the other would be controlling the reins. Duelling codified the use of the pistol in single hand, side-on stance. These major influences shaped sporting, police and military training, so that the "correct" way to train for combat was on bull's-eye targets, from the single-hand duelling stance. When police and military agencies first started formal training in pistol shooting they tended to turn to the "experts", the guys who were formally recognised in this type of bull's-eye shooting, in other words, recreational shooters. A typical police force would take the top competitors and make them the force firearms instructors who would then stipulate the range facilities and training program. People teach what they know, and if you employ target shooters, they will teach target shooting. This accounts for virtually every police/military pistol range being of at least 25yds length.... there is no tactical reason, it comes from sporting regulation. Changes and improvements have been driven by two factors. For military training the impetus for change has been war. For police firearms training change has generally resulted from tragedy, from conspicuous cases in which officers were killed. In this article we are going to discuss benchmark influences on British military pistol training. Right from the start I want to emphasise that this is in no way a definitive history, it is more a work in progress, and a framework for discussion. Hopefully, this will be continually revised as new information is made known. Readers who can add to the tale are warmly invited to contact the author, and their input will be included.
During times of war and conflict a certain type of man comes to the fore. He is a man who can defy accepted doctrine, and blow convention away. He sees what needs to be done and doesn't rest until it's done. In the following study we are going to meet characters that did just that in the field of pistol training. We will compare their techniques and look at commonalities.
ALBION'S GUNMENToday liberal sentiment is highly critical of the British Empire, but whatever the faults it provided the British Army and Colonial Police Services with a wealth of experience. Tribal confrontations, border disputes and insurrections gave soldiers and police practical experience. From these ranks many radical thinkers emerged, men who realised that bull's-eye target shooting was a woefully deficient preparation for fighting.
I've heard of one officer who would take primed cartridge cases and press the case mouths into blocks of soap, forming a hard soap "bullet". He would load these into his service Webley. In the garden he would have his servants surround him, armed with a variety of sticks and bludgeons, then at random rush him. Our hero would then respond with well-placed shots to his human targets, giving him practise in reactive accuracy. (Note the author has been shot numerous times with wax, plasticine and other training rounds, and can only imagine how much those .455 soap bullets sting!)
The earliest influential figure in our study is Arthur Woodhouse, an officer with the United Provinces Police in India. The result of his experiments was offered in the "New Revolver Manual for Police and Infantry Forces" published in 1907, with the stated objective "to give sound advice on how to practise in order to become a good shot- and to urge more practical training. Woodhouse was a proponent of unsighted snapshooting for close range confrontations. The shot was fired by "whole hand squeeze" while the pistol was sweeping up through the target. As we will see, these two techniques form a common thread.
An innovation was his "revolver pit" a 20-yard circular bay enclosed by a 14-foot high mud wall. A series of target zones were marked on the wall, and the shooter had to engage them according to the random commands of the instructor. Scores were noted, then bullet holes filled with wet mud, which quickly dried in the Indian sun.
IN THE TRENCHESIn the bloody hand-to-hand trench raiding of World War One many fearsome close-range impact and edged weapons were devised and employed (still on view in the Imperial War Museum). At hand to hand range, in ankle-deep mud the pistol was a valued weapon but again, bull's-eye training proved inadequate. Captain Charles Tracy was a voice of reason. In his "Revolver Shooting in War", published in 1915 he says " Fine drill method is one thing, revolver fighting is another". An advocate of the "whole hand squeeze" and "vertical lift", like Woodhouse his preference was for the revolver rather than the semi-auto pistol. Tracy constructed a number of tactical training ranges, where his students could search a "ruined village", or, navigate an "enemy trench". Targets appeared, moved dropped. At night the student would wander into booby traps, which would detonate; briefly illuminating targets to be taken by snap-shot.
Revolver trench range by Captain Tracy] Following World War One, the regular army went back to conventional target shooting, but practical minds were still at work in the colonies.
"IN NATIVE GARB"Since the original version of this article was published I received feedback from several sources, including Paul Gomez, a respected firearms/combatives instructor from the USA. Paul alerted me to the work of Captain Noel. I had seen the Captain, at advanced age, talking on TV about his Himalayan expeditions, and about doing intelligence work in the region wearing "native garb". I never realised that this real character was a noted gunman, but Paul told me: ...." Noel wrote "How To Shoot With A Revolver" in 1918, followed by "The Automatic Pistol" in 1919 and a later [1940] abridged edition of "How To Shoot With A Revolver". In Noel's work we see links between Tracy and Grant-Taylor [particularly with the cocking of the gun in route to firing position]. Noel covers firing by "instinctive sense of direction" utilizing a contraction of the whole hand, as though "squeezing water from a sponge", a 45-degree ready position and a vertical lift to threat. He, also, created shoot houses with moving, falling, pop up, and knock down targets. In some cases, he even fitted a blank firing pistol to the hand of a 3D target so that he could cause the hand to raise and fire the gun at the student.
We know that Tracy eventually went on to command the "Southern Command Revolver School at Wareham" and that Noel went on to become a "revolver instructor" at the "Small Arms School at Hythe" under Major Dudley Johnson in 1921, but that's all I have regarding them as instructors."
[Reactive target device by Captain Noel] Paul very kindly sent me a copy of Captain Noel's 1940 manual, and I was delighted to find the following timeless advice...
THE MAXIMS OF PISTOL SHOOTING1] Prove your pistol every time you draw it from the holster.
2] Never hand over, or, accept a pistol unless proved
3] The pistol is an ideal weapon for self defence
4] Some people mistrust a pistol because they have never learned how to use it.
5] Gain confidence in your pistol by learning how to use it, and finding out what you can do with it.
6] The pistol is a weapon of opportunity
7] You seldom need a pistol, but when you do, you need it mighty badly.
8] You cannot claim to be a pistol shot unless you are a fast shot
9] Practice the correct handling of the pistol from the first, then you will handle it by instinct when the moment comes.
10] Shoot by sense of direction at close quarters
11] Don't neglect your left hand
12] Squeeze your trigger like you squeeze water from a sponge.
13] The timing of your trigger release just as the sights come aligned to the mark, needs careful practice
14] Trigger pressing is the secret of pistol shooting.
15] Pistol shooting is merely a matter of practice
16] Don't hang on to the trigger, release the finger fully after every shot.
17] Learn not to fumble. Practice a clean, quick action in drawing and handling your pistol.
18] Fire by sense of direction in the dark
19] Fire fast in the dark.
20] Reload at the first opportunity. Always have a full magazine ready.
21] Change your pistol from right to left hand according to the corner
22] Keep cool. Fire fast, but never faster than your "best speed" or you will miss every time.
23] The art of quick shooting lies in perfection in the quick alignment of the sights, combined with an instinctive and automatic trigger squeeze.
24] If you are a good pistol shot you will have nothing to fear from any man in the world.
THE SHANGHAI BUSTEROne place in which considerable development was done was Shanghai. This prime trading city was a hotbed of smuggling, drugs, vice and armed violence. Kidnapping for ransom was so common that all major street junctions had sirens to alert the police to any attempts.
A former Royal Marine (who had competed in the then widespread Bayonet Fighting competitions) William Ewart Fairbairn joined the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) and by 1910 was a training sergeant in charge of firearms. Among his many accomplishments Fairbairn became the first foreigner to receive a black belt in judo/ju-jutsu, and also trained in Chinese Kung-fu. Although uniquely qualified the first thing Fairbairn did was reject his own training! He dismissed Chinese Boxing as being 80% ritual, and similarly pared down Ju-jutsu to the most practical core. Likewise, he eschewed the orthodox SMP pistol training in favour of his own radical concepts. Fairbairn didn't confine himself to the range, he went out on raids, and attended every high-risk incident. In 1919 nine SMP members were killed in shootouts. The SMP Watch Committee investigated and asked Fairbairn what the problem was. "There is nothing wrong with the men. It is the antiquated methods that you insist they be instructed in. More attention is being paid to winning silver cups than in shooting to live." Fairbairn then outlined his own ideas, and was given power to research and upgrade weapons training.
Key points of the Fairbairn pistol system included:-
1] The Battle Crouch. By observing and taking part in armed encounters for many years Fairbairn noticed that men naturally tend to adopt a crouching stance under imminent gunfire threat. He thought it logical to train the men to shoot from this position.
2] Instinctive Point. SMP officers often had to shoot under conditions of adverse lighting. Many encounters were at night. Others entailed going from a sunny street into a dim dwelling. In these conditions Fairbairn reckoned that reliance on the sights was unworkable, and he trained the men to shoot by use of their innate sense of direction.
As an exercise to clarify the instinctive point, Fairbairn would have the trainees face a partner. In turn, each would point at their partner's eye, shoulder, or foot so as to become accustomed to the idea of aiming by sense of direction.
3] Convulsive Grip: "Grip the pistol firmly, as if it weighed thirty pounds"
Regarding equipment, Fairbairn recommended Colt 45 Autos for European Officers (Chinese officers carried .380s due to their small hands). While uniformed officers carried in Condition-3 (chamber empty), plainclothes CID officers were allowed to carry concealed in Condition-1 (round in chamber).
Although ammo allocations are tiny by current standards (22 rounds for initial training, followed by 16 round qualification tests every six months) it must be seen in perspective. At that time most US Police Departments had no annual qualification tests.
Fairbairn sought to maximise the training effect of even this tiny allocation, by, for example having 6 rounds fired after running an obstacle course...what would be termed "stress shooting" today. Also, during requalification officers had to engage moving targets, a practice still not done by the majority of current police/military units.
Fairbairn introduced a unique training target, which was a massive 8' square, with a silhouette printed in the centre. Previously, a trainee would get feedback from hits, but would have no idea if his misses were off to the left, right, high or low. The new target provided feedback on the missed shots too, and feedback promotes learning
He created his famous "Mystery House", a structure representing a Chinese lodging house, which the trainee had to negotiate as if on a raid. Pop-up targets, dim lighting, friend/foe target identification problems, sound effects (music, screams), distractions (firecrackers) made this the most advanced CQB training course of the time.
SPECIAL DUTIESThe Fairbairn influence continued with the onset of WW2. Having retired from SMP Fairbairn offered his services to the British Government. He became the close-combat and silent killing instructor for the Commandos and for the SOE. Later he was sent to Canada and the USA to train instructors for the OSS.
We must not neglect Eric A. Sykes in this discussion. He was a reservist with the SMP Sniper Unit, and a close associate of Fairbairn. One SOE source remembers hearing that Sykes was "the fastest shot on the Shanghai Police" Together Fairbairn and Sykes authored "Shooting to Live" the textbook of their system. While Fairbairn stayed in the US, Major Sykes continued to train SOE and other Secret Service personnel until his death in 1945.
World War Two produced several other prominent close combat instructors, notably Rex Applegate who was involved in training OSS and Military Intelligence. Colonel Applegate trained with Fairbairn, Sykes and other British instructors then brought the system to America. As this article is concerned with British instructors we will leave the illustrious Colonel Applegate to move on to our next study, a British officer who brought his training from America to England. This was Hector Grant-Taylor, and this is what I've been able to find out so far.
SCHOOL FOR MURDERThe following is extracted from the article Phil Mathews wrote for us:
Leonard Hector Grant-Taylor was born in Banffshire, Scotland on the 25th of September 1891. The son of wealthy parents living in the latter days of Queen Victoria’s reign he was brought up with the traditions of Britishness and an Empire at its peak. Little is known of his preparatory schooling but it is known that his family were all practising Catholics and as such he attended Mount Saint Mary’s School aged eleven. …... After leaving Cambridge Grant-Taylor was a newly commissioned Officer Recruit in the British Army, as such he spent the latter part of 1916 and the majority of 1917 involved in his training which was conducted in both Britain and France.
….WW-2 His first commission was as a Sergeant in the Pioneer Corps of the 8th Queens Own West Kent Rifle Regiment, swiftly though he became Lieutenant due to his previous experience and training.
He had friends in the “Old Boy network” though, whether he knew it or not.
With a letter of recommendation to an Officer already in Special Operations it was only a few months (at age 49) that he was commissioned into SOE. Going through the more stringent tests for the second time he again was listed as having achieved A1 fitness by SOE’s medical board.
Without knowing where he might be posted (Occupied Europe etc) in his interview notes he listed his aptitude as being that of an “Instructor”.
Duly he was posted as “Lieutenant, Adjutant and Quartermaster” to S.T.S 22 which was one of the Paramilitary Schools based in Rhubana Lodge in Morar, Scotland.---
GT was a sought after instructor in close-quarter combat. He would announce the subject thus..."This is a school for murder, murder is my business. Not the vague shooting of people in combat, but the personal, individual killing of a man in cold blood. It's an art which you have to study, practise and perfect." Following this the trainees would be introduced to what GT called "The Laws of the Gun", which included:
1] The Grip, what Colonel Grant-Taylor called "fitting the metal hand of War"
2] Cocking and Firing. GT was a great fan of the modern revolver, however he emphasised single-action shooting." Whenever a gunman's gun clears the holster it arrives in his hand cocked and readied for action" The DA shot was excused only if the gunman was crowded or rushed. Firing is done by the convulsive grip.... "normal Army weapon training methods talk about how to squeeze the trigger. Forget the trigger. Concentrate on squeezing the orange"
3] Vertical Raise. Weapon held on centre line and raised through target. GT emphasised shooting with the forearm parallel to the ground, bent, at navel height.
4] The Battle Crouch..."this is an offensive stance, the gunman means business!"
The standard of accuracy GT demanded was that all shots were placed on a target zone the size of a playing card.
["Squeezing the orange"...Grant-Taylor's revolver grip] Once the basics were mastered GT put the men through his "execution shed" a series of live-fire shooting houses, similar to Fairbairn's "Mystery House." Like Fairbairn GT was a master of all forms of CQB. His unarmed combat syllabus is concise and elegant.
After WW-2 HGT became an instructor to the Palestine Police. The manual he wrote is the only generally available record of the Grant-Taylor method.
I found the following advice invaluable..... "Never consider a job finished until you are back in your police station. If you are out after armed criminals and you shoot them-do not relax for a single minute- there may be one you have not shot around the next corner.
Never come out of a house with your gun in your pocket and a smile of satisfaction on your face-there may be someone around the corner ready and able to take it away from you.
Never show surprise. No matter what a shock or surprise you receive, endeavour to keep it to yourself. If you have surprised someone, and they have also surprised you, keep it up your sleeve. The element of surprise depends a good deal on the person affected looking surprised, and knowing that they have looked surprised".
THE SASIn 1960 Major John Slim was officer commanding D Squadron, 22 Special Air Service Regiment. The son of Field Marshal Lord Slim, he had trained under Grant-Taylor in the Far East. The SAS was in a retraining mode following their victorious campaign in Malaya and were preparing for future conflicts. On a training excursion to Kenya Major Slim took the opportunity to introduce the GT system to the SAS. A rudimentary CQB house was dug on the slopes of Mount Kenya, and the troops began hitting the playing card.
The GT system was used for several years, then, when urban operations in a hostage-rich environment were envisaged, greater precision was demanded. A shoulder-point was adopted, which was, essentially the wartime Fairbairn stance.
In later years the Regiment transitioned to the “Modern-Isosceles” system, [favoured by most Spec-ops/LE teams] which has it’s roots in the earlier methods.
[SAS personnel training on range]By the Way, John Slim eventually became Commanding Officer of 22 SAS as is generally regarded as one of the best.
THE GREAT DEBATEThe literature is full of discussions of "sighted fire versus point shooting" This article, obviously, presents the views of our highlighted British experts that some form of "sense-of-direction" shooting is best. This writer is going to swerve this debate, and put the case that a more important topic needs to be addressed.
Every one of these authorities emphasised firing with the "convulsive grip", that is by using a "death grip" on the stocks, and pressing the trigger by use of the whole-hand squeeze. In my opinion sighting is not as critical as trigger action. You can be quite sloppy on the sights, and still hit the target.... even a playing card! This is easily demonstrated on range. However, trigger mistakes cause bad misses. The orthodox, target-shooting approach is to learn to isolate the trigger finger from the rest of the grip, and ensure that the trigger is pressed smoothly, while the remaining fingers maintain an even grip. Not easy to do on the target range, it really goes haywire when the bullets are coming the other way! As we now know, the fingers are the first thing affected by the motor-tremble of psychogenic stress. Rather than try to disarticulate the trigger finger the British experts suggested the convulsive grip, using your natural startle reaction to fire the shot. It is this, rather than the debate over sighting, which needs consideration, but I know of only one modern pistolcraft teacher who uses it, and that is Mass Ayoob.
VALIDATIONAt the end of the day we need realistic training now more than ever. Modern innovations such as scenario work, using role-players, Simumition(r) marking cartridges and with video review are to be welcomed. Also, the increasing use of surveillance video has given us a growing bank of actual shooting caught on camera. Now we are in a position to see exactly what happens under intense stress. It may be a long way time wise from firing soap bullets to Simumitions, but conceptually it's a short leap.
Finally, in your training are you using methods designed to win silver cups, or, are you shooting to live?
SOURCES:
"Practical Pistol Shooting, a legacy of Empire?" by David Penn. Handgunner Magazine, issue 1.
"Murder is his Business" by Frederic Sondern, Reader's Digest 1943
"Hector's job was Murder" by Cal Tinney, True Spy Stories, 1961
"The Close Combat Files of Colonel Rex Applegate", by Rex Applegate and Chuck Melson, Paladin
"Ghost Force" Ken Connor, Wiedenfeld & Nicholson, London.
Personal information provided by former members of British Special Forces.
Many thanks to Phil Matthews for his input og Hector Grant Taylor.
Likewise, many thanks to Paul Gomez. Sadly, Paul passed away in 2012, and is fondly remembered
hereCOPYRIGHT (c) D. MARTIN