Model 1913 Cavalry Saber
The Model 1913 Cavalry Sword, commonly referred to as the Patton Saber, was a cavalry
It had a large, basket-shaped
This weapon, the last sword issued to U.S. cavalry, was never used as intended. At the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War I, several American cavalry units armed with sabers were sent to the front, but they were held back. The character of war had changed, making horse-mounted troops easy prey for enemy troops equipped with
History
The saber is traditionally the weapon of the U.S. Cavalry; the 1913 Cavalry saber design replaced the Model 1906 Light Cavalry Saber ("Ames" saber), which itself was little changed from the Model 1860 Light Cavalry Saber.[2] Patton designed the saber when he was Master of the Sword at the
Following the
Design
The design was influenced by the French heavy cavalry sword of the
The Model 1913 saber features a large, basket-shaped hilt mounting a straight, double-edged, thrusting blade designed for use by heavy cavalry. It was designed in accordance with Patton's system of swordsmanship, which was published by the War Department as the 1914 Saber Exercise manual,[6] and which emphasized the use of the point over the edge.[1]
Its design was wrongly thought to have influenced today's Hungarian saber, which is used in sport fencing, however, there is no connection to the modern fencing sabre, which developed from traditional Hungarian and Italian weapons and was introduced in 1910.[7] A modern reproduction is 44 inches (110 cm) overall with a 35 in (89 cm) blade and weighs two and a half pounds (1.1 kg). The blade is straight and tapered, the front edge running the whole length of the blade and double-edged for half its length. Considering the weight of the bell and grip assembly, it would be balanced much closer to the hand than the typical weapon associated with the name "cavalry saber".
- It has a blued steel (some were nickel-plated) "cup-hilt" and a black composition grip.
- The scabbards (three variants) are of wood covered by leather, then covered with green canvas. The furniture (throat and drag) are of blued steel. Others were nickel plated steel—"garrison scabbards".[8][9]
- It was worn attached to the saddle of the horse, rather than being attached to the waist of the trooper.
Use
According to
Patton's 1914 manual "Saber Exercise 1914" outlined a system of training for both mounted and on-foot use of the saber. Patton's thoughts were expressed in his 1913 report "The Form and Use of the Saber". He expanded on his "Saber Exercise 1914" manual the next year, at the request of his students at the Mounted Service School in Fort Riley, Kansas, with the publication of "Diary of the Instructor in Swordsmanship".
In the Peninsula War the English nearly always used the sword for cutting. The French dragoons, on the contrary, used only the point which, with their long straight swords, almost always caused a fatal wound. This made the English protest that the French did not fight fair. Marshal Saxe wished to arm the French cavalry with a blade of a triangular cross section so as to make the use of the point obligatory. At Wagram, when the cavalry of the guard passed in review before a charge, Napoleon called to them, "Don't cut! The point! The point!"[5]
In any case, when it was issued, it was already militarily obsolete because modern warfare did not allow the cavalry charges for which it was intended. According to Parker, "if it was ever drawn in anger, I can find no record of it."[11]
References
- ^ a b Charles M. Province, The M1913 "Patton" Saber web page (accessed 20 April 2015).
- ISBN 1304811964, 9781304811967
- ISBN 9781941656327.
- ISBN 9781941656334.
- ^ a b Patton, George (1913). The Form and Use of the Saber. George S. Patton (Revised ed.).
- ^ Saber Exercise 1914
- ^ "The History of Sabre". Harvard Fencing. Harvard University. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
- ^ The garrison scabbard is relatively scarce, as fewer than 10,500 were made between 1913-1914.
- ^ "The Springfield Edge: M-1913". www.springfieldedge.com. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8117-6898-6. (Google Books.)
- ^ a b Parker, K. J. (Fall 2011). "Cutting Edge Technology". Subterranean Press Magazine. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ISBN 1-892515-04-0
- George S. Patton, Jr. "Diary of the Instructor in Swordsmanship" (Mounted Service School Press, 1915).
External links
- Model 1913 Cavalry “Patton” Saber, Springfield Armory Serial Number 1, pp. 24–25. Army History, No. 90, Winter 2013