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Old 6th June 2020, 10:46 AM   #7
kronckew
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Location: Room 101, Glos. UK
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Translation:

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(English)
Sometimes, near the tip and on the back of the blade, there is a small notch (fig. 15). This voluntary notch is especially present on the sabres of Hussars or Dragons whose courage was joined to a certain efficiency. Indeed, the notch allows the blade of the sabre to transform into a small harpoon by removing the sabre from the wound, the small harpoon aggravated the tears in the deep tissues ... These riders were not tender! Another hypothesis is as follows: the small harpoon could be used to hook the opposing rider and thus unseat him ...

(Deutsch)
Manchmal befindet sich in der Nähe der Spitze und auf der Rückseite der Klinge eine kleine Kerbe (Abb. 15). Diese freiwillige Kerbe ist besonders bei den Säbeln von Husaren oder Drachen vorhanden, deren Mut mit einer gewissen Effizienz verbunden war. In der Tat ermöglicht die Kerbe, dass sich die Säbelklinge in eine kleine Harpune verwandelt, indem der Säbel aus der Wunde entfernt wird. Die kleine Harpune verschlimmerte die Tränen in den tiefen Geweben ... Diese Reiter waren nicht zart! Eine andere Hypothese lautet wie folgt: Die kleine Harpune könnte verwendet werden, um den gegnerischen Reiter aufzuhängen und ihn so abzusetzen ...


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My Comment:
I doubt that anyone would want to intentionally make it MORE difficult to extract their blade, it's hard enough to remove if you thrust into your opponent during a charge as it is. I suspect if it had the effect proposed, you'd have to let go and find another sword. In a more stationary melee you don't want to have your blade stay trapped for any amount of time as another opponent can take advantage of your inactivity, or even the guy with your blade in him could give you a parting gift.

I'd suspect, never having tried it tho, it would be more useful to use it to pick up a discarded but intact lance if you lost yours, by hooking the lanyard or pennant. A lance is better if you are going to charge again, the sword /sabre is probably better in the more chaotic melee.

Last edited by kronckew; 6th June 2020 at 10:57 AM.
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