This a WW2 Combatives classic from Lt. Col Rex Applegate. Over the course of more than 330 pages, the reader is taken through a myriad of unarmed and armed combat techniques tried and tested on the battlefields of the second world war. Rex Applegate's masterpiece is a truly holistic work, spanning unarmed striking and grappling, sentry elimination, combat shooting and the deployment of knives, coshes and garottes. It is a fantastic example of how the O.S.S and wider American services took the core material of W.E Fairbairn, E.A Sykes and Pat O'Neil and evolved it for the purposes of the American espionage and raiding forces during and beyond the 1940's. Rex being an accomplished martial artist and firearms instructor in his own right brings his views on techniques, training and mind-set to life across this varied and immersive volume - alongside the history of their use and application. Containing a mixture of written instructions, photographs and illustrations - it clearly lays out the best ways to deliver and deploy the techniques. It is uniquely detailed on aspects such as knife defence, holster choices and the taking and detaining of prisoners.

本書は単なる戦術書を超え、極限状態での生存本能と冷徹な合理主義を凝縮した結晶です。アップルゲート中佐が描くのは、装飾的な美学を一切排し、効率のみを追求した残酷なまでのリアリズム。第二次世界大戦という未曾有の混沌が生んだ「死への対抗手段」という名の哲学が、紙面から圧倒的な熱量で迫ります。 技法以上に本作を輝かせているのは、読者の生存への覚悟を問う精神性です。ＯＳＳ（諜報局）で磨かれた英知が突きつけるのは、文明の裏側に潜む剥き出しの闘争心。戦史の影で名もなき兵士が何を信じ、どう生き抜いたかを追体験させる、凄絶な人間記録としての深みが読む者の魂を強く揺さぶります。