I. Carte de Manchette.—Extend the sword-arm to the full length and deliver the cut, with a flip as it were, at the opponent’s fore-arm, between the elbow and the wrist. This can be done with the back of the blade (Reverse Cut) under circumstances presently to be described. No. I. is useful if the adversary unwisely engages you in Carte otherwise (from Tierce) it must be avoided, as he easily parries by withdrawing the arm and replies with a Tierce Cut.
II. Carte de Manchette and Cut Tierce.—This movement is No. I. followed by a close rotation of the point (“Tierce Moulinet”); if, however, the circle be too small, it will not clear the sword-guard.
III. Double Carte de Manchette and Cut Carte.—No. III. is to be done when the opponent, as he generally will after an attack of No. II., successively parries Carte and Tierce. It is simply the double of No. I., and thus the “Tierce Moulinet” cuts, of course, inside the arm.
IV. Double Carte de Manchette and Cut Tierce.—Useful when the adversary parries Carte, Tierce and Carte; it is the double of No. II. and thus cuts outside the arm.
No. II. guards the arm and is therefore unexceptionable. Nos. III. and IV. are dangerous, because, like No. I., when opposed to an agile hand, they may lay the wrist open to a Time Cut.
The two first and all four against a slow unready swordsman may be varied by combinations with coupés, or passing the blade sharply over the adversary’s point. For instance, if the adversary come too wildly to the Tierce parade of your double Carte and Tierce (No. III.), a coupé will reach his arm in Carte.
A golden rule which cannot be repeated too often is that all the Manchette-Cuts in Tierce (outside), either from above or from below, must be as nearly vertical as possible, whilst all the Cuts in Carte (inside) should be as horizontal as they can be made. The reason is simply that these positions cover the arm and render the attack less dangerous.
§ 3. The Guards (Parries) and Feints in Manchette.
The Guards of the Target will be found sufficient for parrying all attacks in Manchette. The soldier, however, should especially practise the retrograde parades, that is withdrawing the right fore-arm with and without the right leg.
Feinting with the broadsword is necessarily more simple than with the foil, being generally confined to Coupés and Secondes. The neo-Italian school of sabre uses, I have said, the fencing movements, but it is at best a bastard style. If the opponent attempts to “degage,” that is to pass his point under your blade from Tierce to Carte, or vice versâ, retire by withdrawing the right heel to the left, and cut at the arm which his movement has exposed.