Saber Exercise

War Department, Document No. 463. Washington, March 23, 1914 The following Saber Exercise, prepared by Second Lieutenant George S. Patton, Jr., Fifteenth Cavalry, Master of the Sword at the Mounted Service School, and revised by the Cavalry Board, is approved and issued for the information and government of the Regular Army and the Organized Militia of the United States. By order of the Secretary of War: Leonard Wood MajorGeneral, Chief of Staff 2 SABER EXERCISE 1. For military purposes the nomenclature of the saber is as follows; Blade and hilt. The blade is divided into the forté, the 18 inches nearest the hilt; and the point, the rest of the blade. The saber, Model 1913, is two-edged. All the front edge, and half the back edge, is sharp, so that it may be more easily withdrawn from a body, and also, on rare occasions, used to cut. Throughout the text the word edge when used alone will mean front edge. The hilt is divided into the guard, which protects the hand; the grip, which the hand holds, and the pommel, the lower end of the grip, used to strike with in close fight. 2. The saber is solely a weapon of offense and is used in conjunction with the other offensive weapon, the horse, In all the training, the idea of speed must be conserved. No direct parries are taught, because at the completion of a parry the enemy is already beyond reach of an attack. The surest parry is a disabled opponent. In the charge and in the melee, the trooper must remember that on the speed of his horse in attack, and on his own offensive spirit, rest nine-tenths of his chances of success. 3. Instruction is divided into: Instruction on foot, and Instruction mounted. Instruction on foot teaches the mechanism of the use of the saber without embarrassing the trooper with the control of a horse. It's chief purpose is to increase the reach, teach accuracy and quickness, and above all, to make the