The Romance of the Sword, deflated!

[45Auto]

Greetings everyone,

As a collector I'm sure I'm not alone in my imagination of the great battles and heroic deeds which some of my old relics took part in. Then, along comes this old WWI cartoon by Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather. A man with WWI combat experience. But in spite of (or because of ) this great cartoon, I still love my British swords!

[Rick]

Somewhere I have a copy of his book Fragments from France, an entire book of his wit and artistic talent.

[Jim McDougall]

In the rather unsung theater of WWI, the British Sinai and Palestinian campaigns and Mesopotamian (now Iraq), from 1915 through 1918 against the Ottomans, there was not only wide use of the sword but the lance.
With his cavalry, General Edmund Allenby told his men emphatically..."you MAY go into battle without your breeches, but you men WILL have your sword!!"

The M1908 cavalry sword became known then as the 'Allenby sword'.

As I have often recalled here, I had the honor of visiting the late Brigadier Francis Ingall, ("The Last of the Bengal Lancers", 1989), who led a brilliant cavalry charge on the plains near the Khyber Pass in 1931, wielding his M1912 officers sword. I held this sword as he wistfully recounted the story to me personally.

While the sword is of course regarded as mostly a symbolic accoutrement, and sentimentally in place in modern times, regarded obsolete as a weapon from later in 19th c in the west......ethnographic use is of course so well known the instances are beyond describing.

Still, we know well the use of sabers by Cossacks through WWII, as well as the Polish, who did NOT attack German tanks with them as told by German propaganda.

Still, the humor is well placed and pretty good! as swords throughout history have been demeaned often as utilitarian tools, and the character of these reminds me of the classic cartoon by the great Bill Mauldin, of a GI giving the coup de grace to his beloved steed, his jeep, in WWII.

[ulfberth]

Well said Jim !!
The last sword duel on record was in 1967 between Gaston Deffere, Mayor of Marseille and Rene Ribiere." The duel was fought with sharp steel, to first blood and one of them got injured.
It was filmed and you can see it on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ast+sword+duel

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by ulfberth

Well said Jim !!
The last sword duel on record was in 1967 between Gaston Deffere, Mayor of Marseille and Rene Ribiere." The duel was fought with sharp steel, to first blood and one of them got injured.
It was filmed and you can see it on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ast+sword+duel

Thank you !!!!
While the sword may have side stepped due to the advent of firearms and advanced weaponry, it has always held steadfastly as a weapon which can and would be used as required.

As noted, the cartoons shown are indeed clever and entertaining .
Walt Disney was an ambulance driver in WWI, and often painted cartoon characters on the ambulances. These of course were the beginnings of what became themes and figures on vehicles and planes during war, and in military contexts as morale booster etc.

The note on this duel is intriguing! and research I have been working on is concerning how long dueling with swords actually has continued, and this example advances the topic notably!

All the best
Jim