The French Derue Officer Sword 1890-1940s
Dec 22, 2021 21:02:50 GMT
Post by Pino on Dec 22, 2021 21:02:50 GMT
There's scarcely anything about this spectacular sword on the Internets so I think it's time to rectify this so behold! One of the most beautiful, and tragic, swords ever made: the French Derué model.
A bit about the sword
After the War of 1870 there came a frenzy of research, which only served to show the former Imperial General-Staff's ineptitude, everyone advanced their own explanations as to how all this happened and how it could have been avoided.
In the midst of said frenzy, the design of swords was brought up as one solution to the problem and Colonel Derué was one of those officers that came up with an idea for one of those miracle swords around 1890.
It was at this time that the Artillery committee was in the process of reviving the old Préval pattern by reusing and re-hilting its components, so Derué's invention offered a new perspective in trying to deal with the problem of cut and trust fencing.
The solution he proposed was a sword having a big bell guard to protect the hand and a thin straight blade to thrust.
C. Aries says that since the Artillery Committee never officially approved this model nothing was officially written about it's standard specifications so we can rely on existing models to have a broad idea since most found today share common features, dimensions and weight.
This also implies that since they were private purchased, a lot of them were made with different types of guard, alloys, grips and etc.
Blades
The most important characteristic of the sword and reason they are called so: it was straight with a triangular-ish form, the back was flat but made wider so as to form a T shaped blade profile where the back acted as the base. This arrangement gave considerable stiffness to the blade.
The blade had no need for a fuller except for the false-edge where a fuller was developed at it's back which, added with the sharp spear point, was meant to increase the penetration force. This shape allowed cutting motion but to a lesser extent.
In 1907 after complaints this back fuller was removed and subsequent blade tip made with a sharp distal taper.
Following regulations, officers had the choice between three sizes of blades for the cavalry/mounted units (85, 90 and 95cm) and the two for infantry/foot units (85 and 90). Another difference was that technically the ricasso was wider for mounted service units.
The great majority of the blade were made by the private sector/furbishers which were of lesser quality since the private makers were not forced to follow strict manufacturing controls; only the blades made by Chatellereault were considered to be the toughest but also more expensive, hence less popular.
Hilts
The guard was the model's other special feature. Inspired by the still-born Preval hilt, it too was bowl shaped and with seven branches: the main one or knuckle-bow, four branches on the outer side to cover the hand and two on the inner side. All of these converged to the knuckle bow in an almost swirling pattern.
The two inner and two outer guard branches whirled around the centre shell without touching it and merged in the back to create a cut out beak shaped quillon. In between the branches were holes/cut out designs that also served as point stoppers.
The sword knot insert was located near the pommel junction of the main branch.
The hilts were made of polished brass, gold gilded or Delta metal, normally without decorations but there exist many specimen whose guards are chiselled with floral patterns.
Theoretically the cavalry had ribbed grips made of wood core wrapped with leather and then brass wire; for the infantry they were made of black horn but in truth horn grips were used by all types of officers. The pommel cap was usually made without a backstrap however some variants could have them done so.
Scabbards
There is nothing special with the Derue in regards to the others as it was made of a sheet of nickel plated or chromed steel; the throat shaped like the blade. It had a single ring system with a drag shaped like a lyre. Since the mouth could not be made in a T form, it was square to accomodate the blade.
Destiny, setbacks, spawns
Despite its efforts, the Derué model was tested with the 11th Cuirassiers in c.1891 and the results were lukewarm and was thus never officially accepted and the adoption of the Model 1896 killed all remaining possibility of it being acknowledged for Army service.
Fortunately it found its way within the private sector for those officers who enjoyed the thrusting potential it had and its excellent hand protection. As late as 1930 Balp was offering the Derué hilt for purchase so safe to say it was still available until the beginning of WWII. Strangely enough but perhaps because the design was protected by a patent for a while, all cutlers/furbishers/makers had to have the State's written permission to be allowed the sale of Derué blades!
Even so the existence of the 1896 regulation model still limited its popularity and the superiority of firearms, as witnessed in the War of 14-18, was the final blow to the sword fashion industry.
The Derué model was thus relegated to the still-born section of swords not so much because it was a bad sword, as it had considerable qualities in itself, but came out too late when the use of swords was already starting to fade away.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other than the private furbishers, other parties were seduced by the design: the Dutch, Argentine and Chilean armies approached the French to create new swords for their own troops. Of these 3 the Dutch 1895 system and the Argentina one were the same in shape and blade as the French model; the others had either the hilt or blades changed but retained a distinct Derué feature.
Unfortunately piercing the foreign market did not prove to be successful for the French.
Derué had to face a lot of awful stuff because of his invention; not the least judiciary problems with none other than the Germans...
The thing is that to protect his creation Lt-Col Derué had issued a patent for Germany to keep them off his blade type.
However German interest began to show shortly after the blade showed promising test results in France and one arms maker, acting under the name of all weapons manufacturers of the country, began to question the validity of the patent issued to protect the blade under the pretext that the blade design was already known for centuries.
Unfortunately for the German side it became impossible for them to actually prove such a statement as none of their blades had any resemblance to the Derué one.
Thus for more than a year the case went on and on, with experts debating endlessly but only proving how the Germans were desperate to own it or cancel it.
In the end in 1893-94, having nothing more to add, the Royal Court decided that ''the model itself could not be patented as a weapon but instead could be only for its qualities, and that in this sense the quality of Solingen blades cannot be surpassed'' rendered Derué's patent void and inadmissible in Germany.
With this verdict the Germans finally got what they wanted and could now own the blade copyright and use for their own advantage which they did. When the Dutch army chose to model its swords after the Derué pattern it was disappointed by French production inbaility to produce the required production numbers for trials and instead chose to go with German maker Luneschloss to honor its contract of more or less 3000 swords. With Germans now having access to the design, Argentine officers also opted for their manufactures to make a non-regulation sword, possibly in 1898. Thus it was that France lost the commercial market to their old enemy...except for Chile, fortunately we Chileans stood with them but that is a tale for another time!
This is the list of swords that were inspired by the Derué pattern, either by using the blade or hilt as components:
Chilean trooper sword (Model 1890 or later) : hilt only – French made
Argentina un-regulation cavalry officer sword (c. 1898) : hilt and T blade – German made
The Dutch produced a considerable number of swords for themselves:
M1895 cavalry trooper pallasch : hilt and T blade – German made
M1895 cavalry officer pallasch : hilt and T blade – German made
M1897 infantry officer : hilt only – German made
M1895 cavalry trooper sabre : hilt only – German made
M1895 cavalry officer sabre : hilt only – German made
M1955 Cavalry Honorary Escort sabre : hilt only – German made
Specimen
The two Derué specimen I have may fit the overall aforementioned description yet both have different features due to them being private purchases: one was crafted with a nicely decorated yellow brass guard + triple grip wire, the other having the non decorated guard having instead a ridge and made of reddish copper-brass alloy and simpler wire.
The first was made in 1913 and is an interesting souvenir from an officer who had spent some time in the medical depots/buffers; the inner side of the guard is engraved: ‘’Souvenir du dépôt des convalescents de Fontainebleau. 1914-1915’’.
The depots served to reduce the influx of wounded to the hospital by granting the wounded a short-termed stay in order to get better before returning to the front...
No doubt the officer was deeply related to his one-year stay in the depot; either he was a commanding officer or an individual who appreciated his stay.
Its guard is nicely decorated with floral forms, you can see the 4 outer branches and the 2 inner ones and how they circle around the hilt with the quillon having small holes/openings.
The typical Derué blade is straight with a T-shaped form and made by the manufacture of Châtellereault in July 1913.
The second one is a bit more modest in looks but the copper like alloy gives it a nice touch; the guard may be not have floral decorations and pierced quillon but it has 4 broader branches on each side and a depression forming a ridged around the hilt in what the French called the ''cordon brise-pointe'' which roughly was meant to stop the enemy's point. In this sense this hilt is much closer to regulation trooper swords in terms of practicality and combat efficiency.
Notice its blade is narrower and the tip longer than the other. That one was made by the Manufacture of Saint-Etienne. Another special aspect if the pommel nut, which is a line screw to disassemble the sword easily. Neat.
Thoughts, opinions
I can see why it wasn't considered by the French as a worthy successor to the cavalrymen sabres, the blade is perhaps too slim and thin despite having a strong base with its T-shaped back. Too much pressure will inevitably break it and I think this is what the Cuirassiers of the 11th regt gave as feedback; the hand protection however is incredible and it is a wonder as to why this wasn't adopted; the Dutch & Chilean did. Their swords may have had issues of their own but it wasn't related to the guard.
Missed opportunity there but even if the perfect sword would have been invented from there it just wouldn't have made a difference because of the coming war that would have swept it away, just ask the British 1908...
Overall the Derué swords are some of the most attractive French models even if just for dress but more the reason to be fully appreciated, in this time and age you no longer need to worry about killing a cuirassier with it to save your hide.
SPEX
Derué I (1913)
length total: 107cm / 42''
sword: 105cm / 41''
blade: 88cm / 34.5''
POB: 7cm / 2.5''
Weight total: 1.4kg / 3lbs
weight sword: 1000gr / 2.2lbs
Derué II (copper)
length total: 110cm / 43.5''
sword: 108cm / 42.5''
blade: 92cm / 36.5''
POB: 9cm / 3.5''
Weight total: 1.4kg / 3lbs
weight sword: 1000gr / 2.2lbs
SOURCES
M. Petard. Des sabres et des épées, Vol 2-3
L'Hoste & Resek, Les Sabres Portés par l'Armée Française
C. Aries & M. Pétard, Les armes blanches militaires françaises
Balp sword maker catalog of 1930
Gazette des armes no 135 – Nov 1984
Journal du Figaro – 1893
SHD de CHâtellerault et de la boite d'archive 232-2H-2221
Passion Militaria Derué info
A bit about the sword
After the War of 1870 there came a frenzy of research, which only served to show the former Imperial General-Staff's ineptitude, everyone advanced their own explanations as to how all this happened and how it could have been avoided.
In the midst of said frenzy, the design of swords was brought up as one solution to the problem and Colonel Derué was one of those officers that came up with an idea for one of those miracle swords around 1890.
It was at this time that the Artillery committee was in the process of reviving the old Préval pattern by reusing and re-hilting its components, so Derué's invention offered a new perspective in trying to deal with the problem of cut and trust fencing.
The solution he proposed was a sword having a big bell guard to protect the hand and a thin straight blade to thrust.
C. Aries says that since the Artillery Committee never officially approved this model nothing was officially written about it's standard specifications so we can rely on existing models to have a broad idea since most found today share common features, dimensions and weight.
This also implies that since they were private purchased, a lot of them were made with different types of guard, alloys, grips and etc.
Blades
The most important characteristic of the sword and reason they are called so: it was straight with a triangular-ish form, the back was flat but made wider so as to form a T shaped blade profile where the back acted as the base. This arrangement gave considerable stiffness to the blade.
The blade had no need for a fuller except for the false-edge where a fuller was developed at it's back which, added with the sharp spear point, was meant to increase the penetration force. This shape allowed cutting motion but to a lesser extent.
In 1907 after complaints this back fuller was removed and subsequent blade tip made with a sharp distal taper.
Following regulations, officers had the choice between three sizes of blades for the cavalry/mounted units (85, 90 and 95cm) and the two for infantry/foot units (85 and 90). Another difference was that technically the ricasso was wider for mounted service units.
The great majority of the blade were made by the private sector/furbishers which were of lesser quality since the private makers were not forced to follow strict manufacturing controls; only the blades made by Chatellereault were considered to be the toughest but also more expensive, hence less popular.
Hilts
The guard was the model's other special feature. Inspired by the still-born Preval hilt, it too was bowl shaped and with seven branches: the main one or knuckle-bow, four branches on the outer side to cover the hand and two on the inner side. All of these converged to the knuckle bow in an almost swirling pattern.
The two inner and two outer guard branches whirled around the centre shell without touching it and merged in the back to create a cut out beak shaped quillon. In between the branches were holes/cut out designs that also served as point stoppers.
The sword knot insert was located near the pommel junction of the main branch.
The hilts were made of polished brass, gold gilded or Delta metal, normally without decorations but there exist many specimen whose guards are chiselled with floral patterns.
Theoretically the cavalry had ribbed grips made of wood core wrapped with leather and then brass wire; for the infantry they were made of black horn but in truth horn grips were used by all types of officers. The pommel cap was usually made without a backstrap however some variants could have them done so.
Scabbards
There is nothing special with the Derue in regards to the others as it was made of a sheet of nickel plated or chromed steel; the throat shaped like the blade. It had a single ring system with a drag shaped like a lyre. Since the mouth could not be made in a T form, it was square to accomodate the blade.
Destiny, setbacks, spawns
Despite its efforts, the Derué model was tested with the 11th Cuirassiers in c.1891 and the results were lukewarm and was thus never officially accepted and the adoption of the Model 1896 killed all remaining possibility of it being acknowledged for Army service.
Fortunately it found its way within the private sector for those officers who enjoyed the thrusting potential it had and its excellent hand protection. As late as 1930 Balp was offering the Derué hilt for purchase so safe to say it was still available until the beginning of WWII. Strangely enough but perhaps because the design was protected by a patent for a while, all cutlers/furbishers/makers had to have the State's written permission to be allowed the sale of Derué blades!
Even so the existence of the 1896 regulation model still limited its popularity and the superiority of firearms, as witnessed in the War of 14-18, was the final blow to the sword fashion industry.
The Derué model was thus relegated to the still-born section of swords not so much because it was a bad sword, as it had considerable qualities in itself, but came out too late when the use of swords was already starting to fade away.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other than the private furbishers, other parties were seduced by the design: the Dutch, Argentine and Chilean armies approached the French to create new swords for their own troops. Of these 3 the Dutch 1895 system and the Argentina one were the same in shape and blade as the French model; the others had either the hilt or blades changed but retained a distinct Derué feature.
Unfortunately piercing the foreign market did not prove to be successful for the French.
Derué had to face a lot of awful stuff because of his invention; not the least judiciary problems with none other than the Germans...
The thing is that to protect his creation Lt-Col Derué had issued a patent for Germany to keep them off his blade type.
However German interest began to show shortly after the blade showed promising test results in France and one arms maker, acting under the name of all weapons manufacturers of the country, began to question the validity of the patent issued to protect the blade under the pretext that the blade design was already known for centuries.
Unfortunately for the German side it became impossible for them to actually prove such a statement as none of their blades had any resemblance to the Derué one.
Thus for more than a year the case went on and on, with experts debating endlessly but only proving how the Germans were desperate to own it or cancel it.
In the end in 1893-94, having nothing more to add, the Royal Court decided that ''the model itself could not be patented as a weapon but instead could be only for its qualities, and that in this sense the quality of Solingen blades cannot be surpassed'' rendered Derué's patent void and inadmissible in Germany.
With this verdict the Germans finally got what they wanted and could now own the blade copyright and use for their own advantage which they did. When the Dutch army chose to model its swords after the Derué pattern it was disappointed by French production inbaility to produce the required production numbers for trials and instead chose to go with German maker Luneschloss to honor its contract of more or less 3000 swords. With Germans now having access to the design, Argentine officers also opted for their manufactures to make a non-regulation sword, possibly in 1898. Thus it was that France lost the commercial market to their old enemy...except for Chile, fortunately we Chileans stood with them but that is a tale for another time!
This is the list of swords that were inspired by the Derué pattern, either by using the blade or hilt as components:
Chilean trooper sword (Model 1890 or later) : hilt only – French made
Argentina un-regulation cavalry officer sword (c. 1898) : hilt and T blade – German made
The Dutch produced a considerable number of swords for themselves:
M1895 cavalry trooper pallasch : hilt and T blade – German made
M1895 cavalry officer pallasch : hilt and T blade – German made
M1897 infantry officer : hilt only – German made
M1895 cavalry trooper sabre : hilt only – German made
M1895 cavalry officer sabre : hilt only – German made
M1955 Cavalry Honorary Escort sabre : hilt only – German made
Specimen
The two Derué specimen I have may fit the overall aforementioned description yet both have different features due to them being private purchases: one was crafted with a nicely decorated yellow brass guard + triple grip wire, the other having the non decorated guard having instead a ridge and made of reddish copper-brass alloy and simpler wire.
The first was made in 1913 and is an interesting souvenir from an officer who had spent some time in the medical depots/buffers; the inner side of the guard is engraved: ‘’Souvenir du dépôt des convalescents de Fontainebleau. 1914-1915’’.
The depots served to reduce the influx of wounded to the hospital by granting the wounded a short-termed stay in order to get better before returning to the front...
No doubt the officer was deeply related to his one-year stay in the depot; either he was a commanding officer or an individual who appreciated his stay.
Its guard is nicely decorated with floral forms, you can see the 4 outer branches and the 2 inner ones and how they circle around the hilt with the quillon having small holes/openings.
The typical Derué blade is straight with a T-shaped form and made by the manufacture of Châtellereault in July 1913.
The second one is a bit more modest in looks but the copper like alloy gives it a nice touch; the guard may be not have floral decorations and pierced quillon but it has 4 broader branches on each side and a depression forming a ridged around the hilt in what the French called the ''cordon brise-pointe'' which roughly was meant to stop the enemy's point. In this sense this hilt is much closer to regulation trooper swords in terms of practicality and combat efficiency.
Notice its blade is narrower and the tip longer than the other. That one was made by the Manufacture of Saint-Etienne. Another special aspect if the pommel nut, which is a line screw to disassemble the sword easily. Neat.
Thoughts, opinions
I can see why it wasn't considered by the French as a worthy successor to the cavalrymen sabres, the blade is perhaps too slim and thin despite having a strong base with its T-shaped back. Too much pressure will inevitably break it and I think this is what the Cuirassiers of the 11th regt gave as feedback; the hand protection however is incredible and it is a wonder as to why this wasn't adopted; the Dutch & Chilean did. Their swords may have had issues of their own but it wasn't related to the guard.
Missed opportunity there but even if the perfect sword would have been invented from there it just wouldn't have made a difference because of the coming war that would have swept it away, just ask the British 1908...
Overall the Derué swords are some of the most attractive French models even if just for dress but more the reason to be fully appreciated, in this time and age you no longer need to worry about killing a cuirassier with it to save your hide.
SPEX
Derué I (1913)
length total: 107cm / 42''
sword: 105cm / 41''
blade: 88cm / 34.5''
POB: 7cm / 2.5''
Weight total: 1.4kg / 3lbs
weight sword: 1000gr / 2.2lbs
Derué II (copper)
length total: 110cm / 43.5''
sword: 108cm / 42.5''
blade: 92cm / 36.5''
POB: 9cm / 3.5''
Weight total: 1.4kg / 3lbs
weight sword: 1000gr / 2.2lbs
SOURCES
M. Petard. Des sabres et des épées, Vol 2-3
L'Hoste & Resek, Les Sabres Portés par l'Armée Française
C. Aries & M. Pétard, Les armes blanches militaires françaises
Balp sword maker catalog of 1930
Gazette des armes no 135 – Nov 1984
Journal du Figaro – 1893
SHD de CHâtellerault et de la boite d'archive 232-2H-2221
Passion Militaria Derué info