Could "hacking" swords completely sever limbs?

[Jaron Bernstein]

A well sharpened longsword can easily lop off an arm, leg, or head; as for complete dorsal bisection, I have no clue. One can't help but wonder, though, what would happen should an undefended Mittelhau at full speed catch your opponent right at mid-section. Would you have a greivously wounded opponent or two halves of an opponent?

This is a bit gruesome and obviously not to be condoned today, but the Japanese Army in China during WW2 did extensive "test cutting" on prisoners. Among Japanese sword art practioners some primary source records (as opposed to "my sensei told me...." stories) may still exist of this if you want to do the research. The swords they used for this were standard issued katanas (i.e. mass produced and not of superior quality). The edge geometry might make some difference in cutting ability as compared to different Oakeshott types, but how much I can't say.

[Nathan Dexter]

I dont think it would be too dificult to make a total bisection, (as gruesome as it is ) in the gut area its all soft tissue exept for the spine.

[Benjamin Abbott]

George Silver made it clear that even single-handed swords could take off limbs.

For examples, he wrote, "The blow cutteth off the hand, the arme, the leg, and sometimes the head."

He also wrote, "When men shall join together, what service can soldier do with a rapier, a childish toy where with a man can do nothing but thrust, nor that neither, by reason of the length, and in every moving when blows, are dealing, for lack of a hilt is in danger to have his hand or arm cut off, or his head cloven."

[LafayetteCCurtis]

Those WW2 test-cuts were quite crude not only in terms of weapons but also in technique. I doubt they can really give us a picture of the katana's optimum capabilities, although they surely will show what the sword can do in the hands of an unskilled user.

[Jaron Bernstein]

Those WW2 test-cuts were quite crude not only in terms of weapons but also in technique. I doubt they can really give us a picture of the katana's optimum capabilities, although they surely will show what the sword can do in the hands of an unskilled user.

I don't know. I was under the impression that the Japanese Army of that era did spend some considerable time on sword practice.

[Nathan Dexter]

talhorrer has some plates where hands are being cut off.

[LafayetteCCurtis]

I don't know. I was under the impression that the Japanese Army of that era did spend some considerable time on sword practice.

The officers, perhaps--they had a strong current of martial pride to keep, being mostly descended from the warrior aristocracy themselves. But I doubt the same would have been true of the ordinary soldiers who often participated in such executions and test-cuttings.

[Jason Taylor]

I don't think so. It's pretty difficult to get your blade stuck in an opponent's body--you have to be cutting into a bone-rich environment like the head, the shoulders, the hips, or the ribcage. And even then modern test-cutters seem to rarely experience their blades getting sufficiently stuck to be a bother.

I was under the impression, from readings I've done (I have very limited test-cutting experience, so nothing I can call on from that), but I thought the issue was less bones and more the suction caused by wet liquidy organs surrounding the blade. At least, on the thrust. It would seem to make sense that the same would hold true of cuts that catch the gut area but don't go all the way through. No?

Can anyone speak to this? Test-cutting on an undressed pig carcass or something would seem to be the best way to test it. I don't know how much extra drag the organs would cause on the blade, though, so it might be hard to hit so that the blade just goes exactly halfway, to see if it gets stuck by the collapsing organ mass. Or maybe someone has already done this.

There is no question, however, as to the extra gruesomeness of the cleanup process. Ew.

Jason

[david welch]

This is a bit gruesome and obviously not to be condoned today, but the Japanese Army in China during WW2 did extensive "test cutting" on prisoners. Among Japanese sword art practioners some primary source records (as opposed to "my sensei told me...." stories) may still exist of this if you want to do the research. The swords they used for this were standard issued katanas (i.e. mass produced and not of superior quality). The edge geometry might make some difference in cutting ability as compared to different Oakeshott types, but how much I can't say.

On one of the Nanking sites, there is, or at least was, a picture of a "test cutting apparatus" that consisted of a table (covered in blankets to protect the blade) built between 4 bamboo poles with stakes at each end. They would stack prisoners several (4-6) deep in the frame and tie their hands and feet to the stakes, and see how many they could cut in two at a time. I remember the narrative discussed that one of them had cut a large number that sounded good, but was taunted about them being small women and children and not as hard to cut through as grown men. There was also discussion of tying several prisoners together in a row and having contests to see who could decapitate the most prisoners with one cut. I don't remember who had the record... but I seem to recall it was "several"... more than I would have thought.