Hmm yes I'm familiar with all those books but I don't recall Fairbairn ever advocating front chokes. The closest I've seen in the context of WWII combatives is a neck crush where you basically strike the opponent in the neck, then transition to grabbing and twisting the Adam's apple as hard as you can. Like all strikes in combatives, it's done full-force and with forward momentum so even if the crush doesn't work you'll push the bad guy to the ground where you can follow up with knees, elbows or hand blows. Not a "sport" technique by any means, though.

Anyway, don't want to hijack the thread, just trying to offer an alternate point of view since I've played a bit with WWII combatives and I'm not that sure Mr. Smith's critique is valid on that particular point.

P.S.: If anyone is interested in those systems I'd suggest looking up Kelly McCann/ aka Jim Grover. He's the real deal, not sure if he's still teaching personally but he has done some tapes and I believe his company Crucible is still offering courses. Very good stuff, basically somewhat updated WWII combatives, hand-to-hand, firearms plus things like improvised weapons and pepper spray.