Robert, this is in my opinion a brilliant answer to a most obscure question, that is, what in the world were these notches for? which has vexed me for over two decades. As discussed through this thread it seems the most notable presence of this notch at the back of the blade near the tip was on Austrian swords (Wagner, Prague,1967) as shown in as many as 6 or 8 swords (cannot recall offhand).
As these were drawings, I could not fathom why an artist would include such a feature unless it was deliberately placed in the place, and not some random damage as suggested to me by some who I queried. I did confirm with the museums where the actual examples drawn by Wagner were held, and these swords did indeed have the 'notch'.
In fencing, as you certainly know, in fencing, that is combat or duel oriented, the element of distraction by inflicting a wound was of course practiced in various instances. Bear with me as I try to recall...in Italy(originally) the 'stramazone' was a slashing cut swept across the face, especially forehead,causing of course heavy bleeding.
In Scotland, the placement of extended wrist guards on basket hilts was to protect from the wrist cut.
It makes perfect sense that a small notch creating a sharp barb would be remarkably effective for such a typically unexpected backhand move contrary to the expected passes and parries.
In the 'Spanish fight' (destreza) Spaniards used unexpected moves like this with blows to the head or face creating the same distractive result.
This is the first entirely reasonable explanation that seems to make perfect sense. The notions of this inconsequential notch to pick up objects off the ground or to worsen the wound in a thrust both seem patent nonsense but understandably suggested when trying to find a pragmatic solution.
Like many things in actual practice, especially with dueling, which was typically a situation which was formally forbidden, outlawed etc. and with many combat oriented conventions, these would not, understandably, be well documented, if at all.
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