Evening star., 1913-03-02

long been sealed, prolonged and the sword
became a thrust weapon again.
The career of that most spectacular fig
ure, Napoleon l. was Influenced by the
use of the straight saber, against the
curved, used I'm thrust. Napoieon's ge-
MUS is credited in large measure with the
Innovation for Europe had long been us
ing the curved weapon. but it is matter
of record that Marshal SAKE went so far
as to advise that the French sword be
made in triangular form so that cava Try
men would be forced to thrust. having no
cutting edge on their weapon.
st. Louis, moreover, anticipated Napo-
leon in this tactical innovation, so it has
been called each time the straight sword
and thrust have returned to favor but
the Little Corporal, attaching to himself
credit as "A magnet draws steel filings. is
called the father of the modern plain,
straight, lethal fighting arm.
* =
When his cuirasseurs filed past enter
ing upon the battle of Wagram, the short
little figure snapped out to them:
Don't cut, don't. cut-the point, the
point.
Wagram is history. That it is listed in
the table of Napoleonic victories is due in
a measure to this same concise advice.
During the peninsular war the French
thrust and the English cut. The French
thrust was usually mortal and the Eng
lsh, used to slashing, accused their
enemy of unfair fighting when the
French used the point.
During the last century the curved
sword came into favor for a time be
cause of the wonderful success of the
Ottoman cavalry, using the curved scimi-
tar. When war had passed, the fevered
experts agreed that possibly the dash and
boldness of the Turkish cavalry had quite
as much to do with their success as their
famous curved weapon. And in our own
time no weapon has been more deadly
than the crude machete, straight and
single edged, with which. by a fair blow,
a man might be cloven from his shoulder
down.
The same we .pons with which great
victories have been won We're examined
by Mai Leonard Wood and the officers
whose advice he sought when the ques-
tion of changing the sword model arose.
One weapon was a straight, tWo-edged
sword found in the Sunken road at Water
loo. Up to that time Napoleons cuirasseurs
had used it with deadly effect. And
Waterloo did not decide the value of the
straight sword; it only illustrated what
unexpected rain and an unknown sunken
road may do to the hopes of men.
Another weapon studied was the ma
chete, in this instance a fine heavy mod
el used by Capt. Fontenerras during the
Cuban revolution preceding the Spanish
American war. The new English sword
model, adopted in 1910, is straight
single-edged weapon, distantly related
to the famous claymore of Scotland.
The claymore. as the name is frequently
used. is n misnomer. however, as it re-
ferred To the great sword" the claid-
heamh NOR, weapon of those misty
ancient days made familiar TO us by Sir
Walter Scott.
The new French sword. a marvel OF
length as swords go. is a straight single
edged sword with a chisel point. 1t is
intended for thrusting. The chisel point
is an ominous device, as it is intended to
pierce steel, and the only steel in al
Europe which the French cavairyman
may use as a target is the cuirass Of the