And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
I have always wondered why Brits used straight swords during the Napoleonic Wars, rather than curved sabers. Allegedly, sabers held with the sharp edge upward could be withdrawn more easily after skewering an opponent. The handle was released and a leather wrist strap attached to the saber's handle would pull it free as the rider passed the victim. This was the French approach that Americans copied.
The Brits never seemed to be concerned about this, even if the theory held water. In any event, skewering an opponent was usually far more deadly than simply slashing him with a saber.
2ndLt G.S. Patton, after a stint as a cavalry student at the French cavalry school at Saumur prior to WWI (during which travels he became well-acquainted with the topography and roads of France and Germany that would serve him so well over the next three decades), was afterwards designated the US Army's Master Of The Sword and chief cavalry instructor at Ft. Riley KS, and his subsequent M1913 cavalry saber design, the last one adopted by the American military for actual use, was arrow-straight, not curved like its predecessors.
His Saber Exercise and Diary of the Instructor In Swordsmanship field manuals describe the use of it to be essentially the world's longest bayonet, with horse and rider that shaft for that spear. The charge drives it in (and through), and the momentum of horse and rider en passant pulls it back out.
I defer to the military's last acknowledged subject-matter expert on the proper design and use of that instrument.
I’ve handled one of the 1913 sabres. Heavy blade, small sturdy guard, short handle, tiny pommel. Go with the strap ir learn why these things were called wrist breakers.
In the horse and musket era sword type depended on what type of cavalry was used for. Straight blade heavy was for Cuirassiers or Dragoons, Hussars like these are dressed as should have curved blades.
Different strokes. If they need to go 10 miles, it'll be in pursuit of a broken and routed enemy. After the initial charge, either the lines will be broken, or the cavalry will be, and an interim close combat melee will ensue. Now let's see the bicyclists keep up that speed over broken ground, with intervening fences and streams. And in a pinch, they can't eat their bicycles. ;)
What a great juxtaposition.
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered why Brits used straight swords during the Napoleonic Wars, rather than curved sabers. Allegedly, sabers held with the sharp edge upward could be withdrawn more easily after skewering an opponent. The handle was released and a leather wrist strap attached to the saber's handle would pull it free as the rider passed the victim. This was the French approach that Americans copied.
The Brits never seemed to be concerned about this, even if the theory held water. In any event, skewering an opponent was usually far more deadly than simply slashing him with a saber.
2ndLt G.S. Patton, after a stint as a cavalry student at the French cavalry school at Saumur prior to WWI (during which travels he became well-acquainted with the topography and roads of France and Germany that would serve him so well over the next three decades), was afterwards designated the US Army's Master Of The Sword and chief cavalry instructor at Ft. Riley KS, and his subsequent M1913 cavalry saber design, the last one adopted by the American military for actual use, was arrow-straight, not curved like its predecessors.
DeleteHis Saber Exercise and Diary of the Instructor In Swordsmanship field manuals describe the use of it to be essentially the world's longest bayonet, with horse and rider that shaft for that spear. The charge drives it in (and through), and the momentum of horse and rider en passant pulls it back out.
I defer to the military's last acknowledged subject-matter expert on the proper design and use of that instrument.
I’ve handled one of the 1913 sabres. Heavy blade, small sturdy guard, short handle, tiny pommel. Go with the strap ir learn why these things were called wrist breakers.
DeleteIn the horse and musket era sword type depended on what type of cavalry was used for. Straight blade heavy was for Cuirassiers or Dragoons, Hussars like these are dressed as should have curved blades.
DeleteBTW, great job you lads on horses! Now let me see you do that for 10 miles.
ReplyDeleteDifferent strokes. If they need to go 10 miles, it'll be in pursuit of a broken and routed enemy. After the initial charge, either the lines will be broken, or the cavalry will be, and an interim close combat melee will ensue.
DeleteNow let's see the bicyclists keep up that speed over broken ground, with intervening fences and streams.
And in a pinch, they can't eat their bicycles. ;)
That's quite a camera shot, either a chase car or a drone.
ReplyDelete