The point should not be drawn back or elevated when cutting either in an attack or in a return.
There is only one direct cut in leading off (that at the head), and that can be given with quite sufficient force without the slightest elevation of the point if the sword arm and leg act together.
In all other attacks and returns the feint, or the act of forming the guard, gives great impetus to the cut.
It has also been asserted that in making a thrust the sword moves in a straight line, and in making a cut it moves in a circle.
This assertion is erroneous, and having been made without contradiction, has been generally accepted as a fact, and hence become a popular error.
All straight thrusts and disengagements move in straight lines, but in the cut over, the point has to be drawn back before the thrust can be given, and when a cut over is made after a parry, the point traverses as great if not a greater distance than in any cut.
Compare the following movements, which I think are the longest made either in thrusting or cutting.
Engage with foils in quarte and parry the disengagement into tierce with prime, and riposte with a cut over.
Engage with sabres in high seconde, and, guarding an attack at the head with prime, return at the inside of the leg.
All direct cuts at the right side on any part from head to foot, from whatever guards they are made, move in as straight lines as any thrusts that can be given, and are consequently as quick.