![]() ![]() Joining ‘Jack’ that Monday were three other gentleman Charlie Rose, William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes. The Wilkinson First Pattern F-S was conceived on Monday, 4th November 1940 at a meeting held at the office of the managing director of Wilkinson Sword Co. ![]() And thus the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife was born. Having had decades dealing with the violent criminal underwood in Shanghai their experience was arguable second to none. This would include the use of a fighting knife for which they not only had their own ideas on but also a design for what they viewed as the ideal knife for such a purpose. Supposedly retired from distinguished careers with the Shanghai Municipal Police Force (SMP) these two respectable looking elderly gentleman had some eccentric ideas on how to train our newly formed Commando units in close-combat techniques. History however would have a different story to tell.Īrriving from Shanghai two retired senior Police officers would have a small but important part to play in the fight ahead. With the British standing Army now soundly bested and devoid of most of its arms, it would seem that all was lost. The potential catastrophic implications of imminent invasion of Britain and subjugation of its people must have been unimaginable. The largest sea-born evacuation of the British Army from the French beaches of Dunkirk would leave Britain near defenseless in no small part due to the bulk of its arms having been abandoned during the frantic operation to rescue over a third of a million soldiers. ![]() The year was 1940 and in May and June of that year, little more than nine months into what would become the Second World War, the Battle of Dunkirk would play out. The knife we now simply but respectfully refer to as The First Pattern was born out of a desperate period and one of the darkest of hours in the annals of British history. ![]()
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