The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-03

| German military experts told the world
 not long ago that the days of the white
 arm'--or, as Tommy calls it, "cold steel'
 were gone. says London Answers. They
 know better now. We have taught them
 that that arm, as used by the allies, is
 still terribly potent.
 The chief weapon in the white arm''
 is the bayonet, several types of which are in the field.
 ! Our own is like a dagger with blade 12 inches long, sharpened on both edges
 and ground to a point.
 Slightly different is the French bayo-
 net. Longer and more particularly in-
 tended for thrusting, It Is beloved by the
 little piou-piou. who affectionately calls
 it "Rosette'-from It's color after use
 and is his most trusted companion. | The Russian also differs from the Brit ish bayonet. It is triangular, with no cutting edge and Is solely for thrusting.
 This detracts somewhat from it's utility,
 because at close quarters an enemy can
 seize 1t without injury.
 | On two occasions in Manchura a Jap l anese officer caught hold of a Russian
 bayonet with his left hand and ran his | sword through the man behind it. Next in importance to the bayonet is the | cavalry sword. In our army this weap- on is intended chiefly for cutting, and is. therefore, not absolutely straight, whereas the sword of the French govern | ment is suitable for thrusting only. But
 usually military swords are so construct oI 1,, tal fa, o,,tt ,tr or thrusting.
 The eason Is curious. The thrust
 some fne exhibitions of which the Scots Greys have given the much-vaunted | Prussian Guards-is by far the more ef- fective attack: but the natural tendency Is to cut and slash.
 Now, most men who take the field have been hastily summoned from civilian life
 and in the excitement of battle they are prone to forget their training and to
 cut instead of thrust. So the swords supplied to them are suitable for both A sword of a different type thah that of our cavalry is the infantry officers. It Is practically a rapier and is now more a badge than a weapon. During the South African campaign we discarded 1t in the field, because 1t
 ena bled the enemy's sharpshooters to pick out our officers, who consequently car rleu caTD1neS Of TlHeS lHSleHu OI SWOTuS. The French government is now learn ing the same lesson
 In the other leading weapon of the white arm''-the lance-there Is a good deal of variety. Usually, it consists of shaft of beech. ash. or other wood, from e'oht feet to 16 feet long, with a steel point about eight inches or 10 inches long, protected by iron on each side. The most conspicuous feature of the
 lance is also the most peculiar. It is the small pennon. which Is not for or nament but to frighten horses. Even British officers are at variance as to the value of the lance in modern warfare, though the scoffers cannot deny that some remarkable. undreamt-of feats have been accomplished with it against the Germans
 In the fighting around Mons. for in- stance. few of our Fourth Dragoon Guards, accompanied by a number of men belonging to the French Twenty-second Dragons, charged German trench, plunging lances and swords into bending Pruss'an backs as the horses jumped the trench. A cavalry charge of a trench and at night,
 The most sin@ular instrument in the 'wh'te arm" be used against the Ger
 mans is the kukri. a heavy. carved knife carried by the Gurkhes, who can do won
 ders with 1t. They can throw 1t with