The Military Institutes Hand to Hand Combat Training
Although formalized instructions in hand to hand combat became a
paramount concern to military experts around the world during
the Second World War, a person interested in the development of
hand to hand combat techniques and training in the 20th century
actually needs to step back in time to World War I. Indeed, it
was during World War I -- the infamous Great War -- that trench
warfare and hand to hand combat became viciously intense and
forever changed the face of modern military combat.
During World War I there were more than 40,000 kilometers --
more than 24,000 miles -- of trenches along the Western front
alone. It was within and around these trenches that some of the
most brutal and horrific hand to hand combat in all of history
occurred. In the aftermath of the conflict, the leaders of many
of the countries involved in the Great War concluded that their
own forces simply were not well prepared when it came to hand to
hand combat. As a result, many countries moved to implement very
specific hand to hand combat training regimens within their
basic military training programs.
As World War II emerged on the horizon, countries including the
United States and United Kingdom focused a great deal of time
and energy in military training on hand to hand combat
techniques. In point of fact, at some point during this period
in the United States, the motto that was emblazoned on a Marine
training facility was:
"Let's be damned sure that no boy's ghost will ever say, 'If
your training program had only done its job.'"
Doing the job -- getting the job done effectively -- included
intensive hand to hand combat training. Training in the ways and
means of hand to hand combat became crucial. Ultimate military
success and defeat of the enemy might well depend on how well
soldiers were trained in hand to hand combat during the Second
World War.
Interestingly, in the United States (and in other Allied
nations), when it came to training servicemen for hand to hand
combat, a great deal of time was spent implementing what were
essentially martial arts techniques and practices as well as
submission fighting skills. These hand to hand combat techniques
largely were of Oriental origin; many of these techniques were
created or refined in Imperial Japan, the nation that ultimately
pulled the pin that brought the United States fully onto the
World War II battlefields in both Europe and the Pacific.
Since hand to hand combat instruction became an
institutionalized part of the basic training regimen, learning
hand to hand combat principles and techniques has remained an
elementary part of basic training regimens the world over.
Indeed, even in the early 21st century, hand to hand combat
training programs are well ingrained and major components of
basic training regimens across the globe.