British pipeback parabolic blade saber c. 1801

Richard G · 11th December 2020, 02:17 PM

Bearing in mind an officer of a flank company was expected to skirmish and hence run around a bit more, I wonder if there is a more prosaic reason for these shortish, heavily curved and sometimes pipe-backed swords; which is, they were easier to drag\carry around and a lot lighter than the full scale models.
Best wishes
Richard
PS. I understand the purpose of 'skirmishing' at that time was to observe, annoy, harass and disrupt opposing troops from a distance rather than engage in actual hand to hand combat.

11th December 2020, 02:17 PM	#20
Richard G Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 419	Bearing in mind an officer of a flank company was expected to skirmish and hence run around a bit more, I wonder if there is a more prosaic reason for these shortish, heavily curved and sometimes pipe-backed swords; which is, they were easier to drag\carry around and a lot lighter than the full scale models. Best wishes Richard PS. I understand the purpose of 'skirmishing' at that time was to observe, annoy, harass and disrupt opposing troops from a distance rather than engage in actual hand to hand combat.