The Romance of the Sword, deflated!

Jim McDougall · 7th April 2026, 02:59 PM

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.

7th April 2026, 02:59 PM	#3
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,838	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. Attached Images