Frag Out! Magazine

New unit, top secret due to its tasks intended for the activities at the deep behind enemy lines in the Jutland Penisula and Ruhr area, push a great importance to the trainings in full contact fighting. Preferred were simple but efficient techniques and because of the very tense training programme such ones which teaching does not require longer time. The other aspect was a specifics of the unit mission and its equipment. The ability to use the high kick techniques and throws which certainly are spectacular and effective were excluded, because they work mostly in the action movies only. Instructors put an empha- sis on using handy tools in the fight (e.g. a folding shovel, bayonet, rifle, etc.), as well as elements of the load bearing equipment and gear. For the initial shape, the fundamental impact had the personal contacts of Combat 56 creator with many representatives of the fight styles like jujitsu, kung-fu, Kyoksul, Tsunami or Wing Chun. Not without a significance was also an educational exchange with other special formations of the Warsaw Pact countries. Particularly interesting were experiences of the special forces from the Czechoslova- kia where Savate and Hwarang Do martial arts were used. In the 1990s unit was declassified what allowed to make contacts with units in NATO countries, frequently informal. Kups, as company chief of training, led to establish a cooperation with many notable instructors of tactics, shooting techniques and hand-to-hand fi- ghting. Absorbed with a comprehensive training of the unit, he came back to develop a system where he noticed that his subordinates did not obey the rules he had introduced. The system called the Combat was presented in 1992 to a president and a ministry of national defence in the during show as a part of the equipment and training innovations. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the generals it was assumed as too brutal and not capable to be implemented in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (it was not the only expression a so called humanisation in the Polish Army which – besides undeniable benefits – made also a pretty good mess). In the early version the Combat 56 hand-to-hand fighting system was a collection of the techniques intended for the elimination of the enemy, and in such a form was little universal and could not be adopted by other services. Perceived as a collection of the most brutal and murderous techniques usable not exclusively in the real combat. So, an extension of the system was concentrated on the developing the safe and simple self-defence techniques, used in several movement schemes in the different scenarios. In 1994 the 56th Special Company, as all of the special companies in Polish Armed Forces, was disbanded. Official order commanding that act is still confidential. The members of the unit were transferred to others or left the army. Kups, to commemorate a unit, name a system as Combat 56. From this moment he propagates the Combat 56 system in many military units and law enforcement services in Poland and abroad. For the needs of the law enforcement he developed a version, in which he put a fundamental emphasis on the secure techniques and avoiding the very brutal techniques from the military version. During his service in the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade he organized the Combat 56 classes in where at one time trained over two hundred servicemen. Since 1999 civilian version of the system was developed which rather significantly differs from the original military one. THE COMBAT 56 BECAME AN INSPIRATION TO DEvELOPINg OTHER SySTEMS AND IN MANy IT CAME EvEN TO ALMOST ExACT COPyINg IT AND IMPLEMENTINg UNDER THE OTHER NAME. The main features of the Combat 56 system are simplicity and effectiveness – it shocks with a rational attitude towards psychology of the survival and a small number of the movement schemes what allows for a fast learning. The simple holds concentrating on the sensitive places, e.g. the eyeballs, carotid arteries, a trachea or a crotch, which allow for an easy learning and are very effective. The hold using a so called lever chains enable simple and effective immobilisations. The system is inextricably connected with a tactics, shooting and security procedures. The first publications about the Combat 56 appeared at the beginning of the 1990s, 10 years later first "civilian" instructors were tra- ined. Nowadays, besides Poland, the system in the civilian version can be learnt In France and in the Czech Republic. training

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