Hand to hand combat?

Question

Which country's military is reputed as being the best in hand-to-hand combat?

Answer 1

It would have to be some army from the pre-firearms period. How about the Romans - Spartans - anyone from that time of knives and clubs.

Answer 2

this will sound a bit obvious but it's also overlooked.  The Chinese army http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Shou had some of the best, highly evolved, highly disciplined and most intense hand to hand combat out there.

Wikipedia:

HISTORY

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 BC to 256 BC).[1]

Even through major technological changes such as the use of gunpowder in the Napoleonic wars, 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; German rifles by 1944 were even being produced without bayonet lugs (see Cyrus Lee's SOLDAT books).

Sometimes called close combat, Close Quarters Combat, or CQC, World War II era American combatives were 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 (SMP) and helped teach the British armed forces [3] a quick and effective and simple technique for fighting with or without weapons in melee situations. Similar training was provided to British Commandos, the Devil's Brigade, OSS, U.S. Army Rangers and Marine Raiders. Fairbairn at one point called this system Defendu and published on it, as did their American colleague Rex Applegate. Fairbairn often referred to the technique as "gutter fighting," a term which Applegate used, along with "the Fairbairn system." In practice, such military systems are the fruit of dozens and even hundreds of dedicated instructors and personnel, known and unknown.

Other combatives systems having their origins in the modern military include Chinese Sanshou, Soviet sambo and Systema, Israeli Kapap and Krav Maga.

The prevalence and style of combatives training often changes based on perceived need, and even in times of peace, special forces and commando units tend to have a much higher emphasis on close combat than most personnel, as will paramilitary units such as police SWAT teams.

De-emphasized in major militaries after World War II, insurgency conflicts such as the Vietnam War, low intensity conflict and urban warfare tend to encourage more attention to combatives. The general discipline of close-proximity fighting with weapons is often called Close Quarters Battle (CQB) at the platoon or squad level, or Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) at higher tactical levels.

The current Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) replaced the Marine Corps LINE combat system in 2002. Every Marine keeps a record book that racords their training, There is a colored belt system similar to many Asian martial arts and advancment in MCMAP is a requirment for promotions. Also in 2002, the US Army adopted the Modern Army Combatives (MAC) program developed by Matt Larsen who was a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment, with the publishing of US Army field manual (FM 3-25.150) and the establishment of the US Army Combatives School at Ft Benning, Georgia. MAC draws from systems such as Brazilian Jiujitsu, Muay Thai and Kali which could be trained "live" and can be fully integrated into current Close Quarters Battle tactics and training methods. In April of 2008 for the first time in US Army history Soldiers who graduate from an official Army course can earn an MOS identifier, H3B and H4B for level III and IV MACP certification respectively.[2]

The US Air Force adopted MAC as its hand-to-hand combat system in early 2008.

Answer 3

U.S. Marines. the battle of Bellue woods says it all.

Answer 4

Militarily, Krav Maga is the most aggressive, brutal marital art form in the world.

Check it out at: http://www.krav-maga.com/

This form of martial arts focuses only on what works under combat conditions. No extraneous moves. Only aggressive, direct action.

Answer 5

Royal Marines.

Answer 6

Having worked with several special ops units, I'd say the Israelis. they are serious B/As

Answer 7

The Brigade of Gurkhas (From Nepal and India, but in the British Army).  

Answer 8

The United States Marine Corps.

OORAHH

Answer 9

russain spetsnaz, watch the video, no US army combat regiment has anything on that kind of maneuvers  

Answer 10

north koreans or israelis

Answer 11

The Irish, then the British, then us... but there is no "best", it's all variable... Israelis are awesome, but rarely is CQB used anymore... but during WW2, the Irish were scary as h**l.