Self Defense: Defending yourself from multiple attackers

Defending yourself from multiple attackers

The world has gone crazy! Turn on the evening news and you will be bombarded with stories of innocent people being attacked, robbed, and killed on a daily basis. Now throw in an emergency situation or natural disaster, and the lunatics of the world will be swarming the streets like roaches looking for innocent victims to target.

One of the biggest dangers that you’ll face in an urban survival situation is an attack from multiple people. Anyone who’s serious about survival needs to be able to defend themselves and their loved ones from all types of violent attacks. While having a firearm can certainly level the playing field, and is something I think everyone should be trained to use, there are certain times and situations where you might be without one.

So what can you do when attacked by multiple people?

Facing an attack from one crazed lunatic can be a serious, even life-threatening situation; throw in a couple more psychopaths, and chaos doesn’t even begin to describe what you’re going to face.

Sadly, in today’s world, this scenario has become an increasingly real possibility. Even an innocent trip to the local grocery store can quickly go bad if not prepared to face the very real threats that are out there. When confronted with this type of attack, there are a couple of things you need to do.

Access the situation:

Do you have an escape route? This isn’t about looking cool, and it’s not the time to be Mr. Tough Guy.
Survival does not mean fighting; if you have an escape route take it now.

Can you talk your way out of the situation? Talking your way out of an attack is more art than science, and takes a considerable amount of street smarts to pull off. But there are a couple of things that you should keep in mind.

  • Telling a group that’s ready to attack to F off does nothing to defuse the situation. That may sound like common sense, but during a stressful situation people tend to either panic or let their ego take over and they overreact.
  • Remember you are probably dealing with people who are borderline insane and have nothing to lose. Stay calm & don’t show any fear. These types of people can smell fear, the moment they see it you’ve already lost the battle.
  • Apologize. Sometimes these morons are just trying to look cool in front of the group. Apologizing will allow them to look like the big tough guy, without having to pound in your skull.

If you must fight, then here are some tips that may help.

Fighting off an attacker

If you have no other options, and your life is in jeopardy, then you need to know how to protect yourself. The following actions should only be taken if your life is in immediate danger.

Watch the group’s body language – Watching the group’s body language will give you a clue to when they’re ready to attack. The following actions may be signs that they are getting ready to attack.

  • Watch for the assailant to do something like removing a hat or shirt.
  • Your attacker may start to make erratic movements such as rubbing his nose, pushing his hair back or clenching his teeth.
  • Watch the group’s eyes; they may start to glance at each other for cues on when to attack.
  • Watch the attackers fists; often times they will instinctively tighten them right before they’re ready to attack you.

Weapons – If you’re not carrying one, quickly scan your surroundings. Beer bottles, tree branches, garbage cans, bricks, and even the pen in your pocket can be used as improvised weapons during an emergency situation.

Psychology – Fighting a group does not always mean having to fight the whole group. In fact, your goal is to fight as few of them as possible. Instead of defeating each of their bodies, you must instead defeat their minds.

  • Your first strike must be spectacular, and very visible to the group.
  • The more visible the injury is the greater physiological effect it will have on the rest of the group.
  • The first few seconds of the fight are critical; if you can psychologically defeat the group now, many of them will scatter without ever throwing a punch.

Identify the leader – Who is the strongest link?  This person is your main threat, and must be taken out first. Taking out the leader can destroy the group’s willingness to fight, and is the first step to surviving an attack.  Remember, you want to create a strong visible injury that will make the group rethink its attack.

Where to Attack – In a life or death situation, there are no rules.  Take out their eyes, break their kneecaps, jab them in the throat; do anything you can to win the battle. Your goal is to immobilize the attackers by any means available.

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24 Comments

  1. I’d like to add that the group’s ‘leader’ can change from moment to moment; pay attention to how they behave as a group.

    Also ‘cues’ is not spelt ques.

  2. The Bizzerker when excuted properly is unstoppable to defend against. It is the ULTIMATE fyght move of our time and when used with duel blades, can be bloody deadly.

  3. today i was attacked by a dozen of boys I’m 18 but they were in their 20 and maybe 30’s, it started when some 3 guys on a bike came out from a street on to the main road I quickly going at 60 evaded from them last moment before their could be an awful accident.I stopped to go to a shop I didn’t bother much about the cyclist as I was parking these bikers come to me and say wht is your f king prob I told him that’s my line and I dnt really care wht happened back just becarefull suddenly the rider got mad and started threatening me if few seconds more ppl appeared 14 or more I tried reasoning with them but they took advantage started pushing me abusing me I retaliated but not effective then I escaped .Now I’m very nervous how to handle such situations I fear that gang they took my picture but I was sunglasses maybe they will have difficulty searching me.

    • Good job on staying calm in your previous situation; if possible, try to carry mace or even a firearm and make sure that those bikers know it.If you are fairly confident that they would not seriously hurt you, ad are simply looking for a fight, the threat of a gun or mace will be more than enough to stop them. If they are serious trouble, try to not go down the same road. Maybe go a different route, or obtain the help of the police. You will come out of this situation fine if you keep protection on you and obtain the help of the police if things escalate. You’ll be fine, but stay strong.

  4. I personally do not get caught in situations without a firearm.
    “Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks.” Good advice from Thomas Jefferson

    • Exactly! I take my firearm everywhere I go period. Thomas Jefferson even carried two concealed pistols while in the capitol. And look where we are today.

  5. Some good information. I’d add avoid risky areas. I also think people need to make the investment to have training and the resolution to kill to survive, be armed with a gun or two, a knife, a cane, a baton, a kubotan. Having a buddy or two along, also armed, would be good.

  6. Few attackers will approach someone who walks tall and looks sharp and vigilant. My secret weapon is my large wide eyes – I have this demonic glance, that if I feel threatened will stare someone out if my confident walk tall approach does nothing. The more vocal you are too, the less inclined it will attract the wrong sort and they tend to scatter quickly if they are out in the day, but never try to talk and reason with any gang/group of idiots – giving them your attention is like giving a baby its expecting feed, so best to apologize loudly with hand facing their face and speedily walk away. Sometimes it works best if you pretend to be mentally unwell and start muttering about religion – often terrifies the life out of most people!

    • This is one of the better comments I’ve read. Acting apologetic to a predator only makes you look more like prey. Being assertive is best, but not offensive.
      One thing to remember is that they are going to count on you being intimidated, so anything you can do to throw off their thinking will help. Unless they are drunk, then just expect a fight..

  7. Thank you very much. Living in Asia where mob attacks and herd mentality is a such deep rooted sub-culture thing. I really liked the info shared and find them very helpful as a constant vigilant reminder. Keep it up.

    • If they have a gun always hit the one with the gunman first, if talking doesn’t work make sure you hit first before they can react, make sure when you hit the gunman that he goes down the first time whether you have to kill him or not, grab the gun, verbalize that you have the gun with something along the lines of “I’ve got your ###king gun” and then shoot either in general or at someone. Normally being shot at discourages people no matter whether the bullet hits them or not.

  8. I have much appreciated all the good advice. Considering unarmed defence, taking a good self defense class is essential. Krav Maga has to be, in my estimation, the best system available. It is used by Special Forces around the world. One thing I found missing, is the use of an ear piercing WHISTLE.

  9. I strongly agree that some form of combative training is crucial! I would recommend some boxing, kickboxing, and jujitsu. You need to know some basic takedowns under these circumstances, and keep in mind that slamming someone on the concrete does significant damage versus slamming someone on a mat. Just getting good at a few basic strikes and takedowns will go a real long way, there isn’t use for fancy stuff in a multiple attacker scenario anyway, not a real one anyway.

  10. I totally Agree!!! I have a CPL went through the class and work with my firearm daily, weather its dry fire practice or just practicing clearing a jam and reloading. You have to be aware of your surroundings at all times and be able to assess the threat and be able to defend yourself or a loved one hand to hand… if fleeing is not an option. Always stay calm, cool and collected and you’ll win the fight.

  11. I am genuinely worried on getting attacked as I know there are people looking for me and they carry knives and never fight one on one and usually go about in groups of 30 but I don’t want to seem like a pussy and not go out cause if they aren’t there people will take the piss out of me

  12. I’ve been attacked jun 15 2016 4 am. At first one young Latino male about 6 foot asked if I bang them pulled out a long cooking knife and soon a car full of more got out and all proceeded to run at me with knifes drawn, I then pulled out two knifes I had and slashed the first attackers wrist as he tried to stab me. He srceamed in pain and they all fled in the vehacle.

  13. I’ve been attacked jun 14(sorry)
    2016 4 am. At first one young Latino male about 6 foot asked if I bang them pulled out a long cooking knife and soon a car full of more got out and all proceeded to run at me with knifes drawn, I then pulled out two knifes I had and slashed the first attackers wrist as he tried to stab me. He srceamed in pain and they all fled in the vehacle.

  14. I’m now looking into arming my self with some kind of pistol and training my self to use it. Its sad when you never imagined your whole life you would ever resort to such a drastic idea but I guess its the kinda thing people will do after their life has been threatend and life flashes before their eyes

  15. Headbutt the group’s leader right in the face. Grab the guy’s clothing and ram the upper part of your forehead directly into enemy’s nose while pulling him towards you. Will cause a spectacular blood gushing injury and it is fast to deliver and usually unexpected.

    That’s assuming you aren’t armed.

  16. Attacking the leader might sound on face value to be the logical thing to do.
    There are other factors to consider.

    That if you are being attacked by a group, they are more than likely to think
    that there is more than them, than there is of you, and stay and fight. Then
    when the rest of the gang subdue/restrain you, and the leader comes back
    around, you have just escalated a bad situation into a very bad situation.
    Because whatever damage you inflicted on the leader, will now be inflicted on
    YOU, and will likely be 10x worse than whatever you did to him.

    You are also at risk of the foolhardy initiates of the gang, who might think
    they have something to prove. Protecting a leader would certainly go a long
    way.

    Have to consider, that you’re not the “only” one making split second decisions,
    so are they.

    Your best chance, is to make enough small and strategic victories with the
    goal of escaping your assailants.

    Using weapons can also be counter-intuitive.
    considering you are fighting a group of people. it is statistically higher
    probability that at least “one” of them has a weapon as well… in that case,
    you just escalated the fight by using yours. So you can almost certainly
    expect some sort of retaliation in that scenario.

    Using your body as a weapon can have the same result as using a weapon.
    The attackers may feel insecure in their abilities and will more than likely
    try to tip the odds to their advantage.

    Know your exits, be resourceful, keep a dialog open, and show respect.

    Avoid poorly illuminated areas, Avoid back roads, narrow corridors and alleys.
    Stay visible by as many (good) people that you can.

    Unless suffering from some sort of mental deficit, most people in general,
    don’t want to initiate a fight or conflict unless given a good reason to.
    Why maintaining a level of respect, whether its to 1 person or its to a gang
    of people… is always the best way to ensure things go smoothly for everybody.

  17. Just carry a fake Grenade , and just casually pull the pin , while holding down on the spoon and causally walk towards them , they will part like the Red Sea before Moses …

  18. Thank you for this post and the advice within. It’s ashame so many of the comments were a waste of time regarding your post. I thought you clearly stated in your post that a firearm was ideal, but you were giving advice for anyone that might not have one at that particular moment. I am British and here in the UK we don’t have firearms (well, the honest public don’t), so your advice was valuable to me and many other people around the world. I know that unfortunately there are a lot of Americans that are unable to imagine anywhere else on the planet other that the United States, but that’s enough of me ranting.
    Just to add to you post, if I may…I’ve found a quick kick to the attackers kneecap is a great way to decommsion them from the fray, yes, legal, easy to carry objects such as the Kubatan, WORK WONDERES at inflicting a large amount of pain on someone, no matter how big or tough they are.
    It is good to know that so many Americans are so passionate about their guns though (if I could have one, I would!), as they may be needed to fight the New World Order in the future, and in my humble opinion, the people of America MUST NOT allow the Deep State to take this right away from them.

  19. Thanks for the article and thread, it was one of the top results from my search ‘multiple attackers’.
    Need to refresh my memory as a precaution and I don’t have time to get in shape, muscle memory etc so a reminder to always be ready.
    Main reason for my reply is to agree that as a grappler, multiple people is a different ball game and some of your training might not be suitable eg., Going to the ground.
    I’ve been in a few situations with multiple attackers and had a couple of lucky escapes.
    Instinct might put you in the mount position in a split second, for sure against a novice,, but then it starts raining kicks… ping ping ping ping and it becomes difficult to get up, at which point you need to get out and up, make space and reassess, fast.
    You might go with an attacker to get out of the group and trip them on the way out, change direction explosively.
    Keep moving, as other posters have said, don’t get surrounded, keep your defense and pick your shots.
    Often they will be getting in each other’s way.
    I had a really comical experience where there was so many of them, I squirmed out of the group and it was like the old cartoons where the character steps out while his assailants are still thrashing around in a cloud of limbs.
    Have you ever tried catching two balls at once? You needn’t bother thinking about trying three. That’s what it is like.
    Also, grapplers leave themselves open to knees to face and headlock unfunnily enough because we don’t practise them.
    Additionally, a judo player will instinctively turn on to his front to avoid being held down and use free hands to protect against the strangle and neglect the threat of strikes that they can’t see.
    Actually the ‘new’ rules regarding grips and time on the ground have probably made it more effective.
    I’ve got the down street and still had someone’s clothing in my hand at least a couple of times.
    Hope this does some good and not bad.
    Title suggests people reading this are on the defence.
    I look like an easy target and these days I probably am, which reminds me regarding the psychology, act confident, relaxed, speak clearly if you have to in denial that you’re in a bad situation.
    Gotta go before this thread loses space!

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