A New System of Sword Exercise for InfantryBurton, Richard Francis, Sir
History
A New System of Sword Exercise for Infantry
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Infantry drill and tactics; Swords
Feinting with the broadsword is necessarily more simple than with
the foil, being generally confined to _Coupés_ and _Secondes_. The
neo-Italian school of sabre uses, I have said, the fencing movements,
but it is at best a bastard style. If the opponent attempts to
“degage,” that is to pass his point under your blade from Tierce to
Carte, or _vice versâ_, retire by withdrawing the right heel to the
left, and cut at the arm which his movement has exposed.
The _Coupé_, the reverse of the degagement, passes the point over, not
under, the opposing blade; this legitimate feint, used in every school,
may be effected in four several ways.
I. _One._ From the usual engagement in Tierce pass the blade over the
opposite point, just clearing it, and cut inside. The two movements
raising and dropping the point should be as rapid as possible.
II. _One, Two_, a double _Coupé_, with the cut in Tierce.
III. _One, Two, Three_: as with the foil; against a nervous opponent
the cut should be made at the face with a dart and a jerk (the Italian
_Slancio_); against a slow player the cut may be Carte de Manchette.
IV. _One, Two, Three, Four_; like the former, but cutting in Tierce: to
be attempted only with the most unready of opponents.
The two latter may be combined with a breast (inside) or shoulder
(outside) “Moulinet” between the penultimate and the last (cut)
movement; but these long feints are radically vicious, because they lay
the swordsman open to Time Cuts. They are, however, useful, as will
appear in making the Reverse Cuts.
Perhaps the Seconde-feints are better than the _Coupés_.
I. _One_: the simple Seconde Cut.--Make a little more opposition in
Tierce, sweep the blade past and along the breast; (inside Moulinet,
or the _brisé à gauche_) and, lowering the hand a little, cut upwards
with a jerk and a flip. The nearer the swordsman’s own body his blade
circles the better, because the cut will be more in the vertical line:
if it be much out of the perpendicular the opponent can “take a time”
in Carte. The Moulinet serves also to embarrass the adversary and to
add strength to the cut. This simple and most valuable movement must
not be confounded with the old-fashioned Seconde cut at the leg: the
latter is objected to, as I have said, by swordsmen; the parry is too
easy, and the ripost far too dangerous.
II. _Feint Seconde._--From Tierce make a short and sharp movement to
Seconde with the knuckles turned upwards; the opponent will probably
come to the Seconde-parry, thereby exposing the fore-arm. You then cut
Tierce perpendicularly as usual, from above downwards (the _enlevé_),
either without or with a breast “Moulinet.”
III. _Feint Seconde, Feint Tierce and Cut Carte_, with two short, sharp
movements, and deliver the horizontal cut in Carte.
IV. _Feint Seconde, feint Tierce and Cut Seconde_, from downwards
upwards, always with a breast “Moulinet.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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