Patton, in addition to his habit of saying awful things in the presence of reporters, had, as a young officer, been an expert in the design and deployment of the cavalry saber.
Oh, and I also owned a few bayonets and a cavalry saber.
This led to running someone down in the middle of a hall with an ancient cavalry saber, so expect similarly ridiculous antics when you play the game yourself.
The cavalry counted 1,577 sabers.
MOSCOW — Three weeks ago, when this city was bracing for the first in a series of large antigovernment protests, some commentators seemed to dip into the well of Russian history, when czars and crowds collided in a blur of sabers, poleaxes, cavalry charges and masses of commoners holding icons over their heads.
Just before 2 p.m. on the last Saturday of each month from April to October, a dozen saber-bearing cavalry officers of the Kremlin Regiment, in tall hats and czarist military uniforms adorned with gold buttons, yellow tassels and epaulets, mount their horses and gallop through the Spassky Gates, past the impossibly colorful onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.
Considered a more aggressive, hence "masculine," weapon than foil or epee, saber "comes from your cavalry, where you can only hit the person from the waist up," explained Ms. Mustilli's father, Frank Mustilli, president of Allegiance Community Bank in South Orange.
Bringing these lessons back to Fort Meyer, Patton redesigned saber combat doctrine for the U.S. cavalry, favoring thrusting attacks over the standard slashing maneuver and designing a new sword for such attacks.
The cavalry would not use their guns, relying instead on saber and spear attacks.
Standing in front of a rack of blades, Mr. Longenbach showed me the three weapons used in competition: the foil, the flexible, 40-inch-long, 16-ounce training weapon best suited for beginners; the epee, heavier and more rigid; and the saber, a curved blade adapted from the old cavalry weapon.
Mr. Putin did go to Elysee Palace to receive a drawn-saber salute from the Republican Guard in its horsehair-plumed cavalry helmets.
