by PAUL HUARD

There’s a peculiar, green flag hanging on a wall inside St. George’s Chapel in London. Along the top of the banner, the word “Commando” wraps over a stylized portrait of a long, slender knife.

Around and beneath the dagger are the dates 1940–45 in gold letters—and the names of 38 battles British Commandos fought and died in during World War II. The double-edged blade is the most prominent feature on the flag.

This is because it’s the symbol for Her Majesty’s special operators. It’s also a symbol of the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife.

Soldiers have carried blades as weapons and tools for thousands of years. But no dagger is more closely associated with World War II elite forces—or possesses more mystique—than the Fairbairn-Sykes knife.

Commonly referred to as the “F-S knife” or “F-S dagger,” it’s still issued to Malaysian special operations forces, the United Kingdom’s Royal Marine Commandos, Singaporean special forces and Greek raiders.

In addition, the stiletto is part of the insignia of the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command, and appears on the emblems of commando units in Holland, Belgium and Australia.

It’s a weapon born out the experience of knife duels in 1930s-era Shanghai—and developed by two men who had no scruples about fighting dirty.

William Fairbairn and Eric Sykes taught an entire generation of warriors that one of the quickest and deadliest ways to kill Germans was cold steel thrust into the vital organs—preferably from behind.

Some historians have commented that the real name for the blade should have been “the killing knife.”