Feint

“ Feint Attacks, deceptive in character, are those which are preceded by one or more feints, or false thrusts made to lure the adversary into thinking them real ones. A feint is a simple extension, often with a slight movement of the body, threatening the adversary in a certain line, for the purpose of inducing him to parry on that side and thus leave the other open for the real thrust. At the same time any movement of the blade or any part of the body tending to deceive the adversary in regard to the nature of the attack about to follow, must also be considered a species of feint. ”

“ The habitues cross ewords, fall on guard, and proceed without reflection to heap feint upon feint, pass upon pass, thrust upon thrust, attack upon attack, parry upon parry. I judge them at once. They may have rapidity of hand and fineness of execution, but only the half the man, the so-called physical half, is engaged in the fray. It is inordinately rare to find a pupil who has taught himself (for the masters do not teach what we call malice) to keep out of measure, now refusing to give his blade, then giving it suddenly and oppressing that of his adversary with confidence and resolution ”

“ When an army marches for the direct purpose of forcing a passage, which is guarded by an enemy, a feint must be made in one quarter, whilst the real object is vigorously pursued in another. Sometimes you must appear suddenly disposed to make a retrograde movement, and then again as suddenly resume your progress; sometimes march beyond the spot you wish to occupy, insensibly drawing off the enemy’s attention ”

“ If a lady faints she is either scared or in love, and wants to fall in her lover's arms. If an army makes a feint movement, it is trying to hide some other movement.
"Hello, Lee, what does Cleburne say the Yankees are doing at Jonesboro?"
"They are fanning themselves."
"Well keep up that feint movement until all the boys faint from sheer exhaustion."
"Hello, Stewart, do you think you will be able to burn up those ten locomotives, and destroy those hundred car loads of provisions by day after tomorrow?"
"Lee, ask Cleburne if he feels feinty? Ask him how a fellow feels when he feints?" ”

“ A counter feint is a feint following the opponent's feint or following a parry of his attack and generally occurs in combined movements.
COMBINED MOVEMENTS.
91. When the men have become thoroughly familiar with the various foot movements, parries, guards, attacks, feints, etc., the instructor combines several of them and gives the commands in quick succession, increasing the rapidity and number of movements as the men become more skillful. Opponents will be changed frequently. ”

“ But this feint was closely watched; for there is a custom, peculiar to the British army, of sending mounted officers, singly to observe the enemy’s motions; and, such is their habit, that they will penetrate through the midst of his cantonments, cross the line of his movement, and hover, just out of musket-shot, for whole days, on the skirts of his columns, until they obtain a clear notion of the numbers and the true direction of the march. ”

“ A Feint is the Likeness of the Beginning of a Thrust: It is made to put the Adversary off his Guard, and to gain an Opening. In order to take Advantage of the Time and Light which you get by your Feint, you must take care to avoid an Inconveniency into which many People fall, by uncovering themselves in endeavouring to uncover the Adversary. ”

“ Example: Being at the engage, 1. Number one, feint straight thrust at chest; disengagement at chest; at stomach, lunge; 2. Number two, parry right, parry left, and low parry left; 3. ASSAULT. (87)
799. An opening may be offered or procured by opposition, as in the press or beat. (88)
800. In fencing exercises every feint should at first be parried. When the defense is able to judge or divine the character of the attack the feint is not necessarily parried, but may be nullified by a counter feint. ”

“ An exceptional burst of activity at a given point may indicate the desire to capture that point, but equally well the desire to hold the enemy in check there, not to retaliate at the point at which he has attacked you; or it may indeed be only a feint, intended to cover by an increased activity the relief of troops in that sector. (Which was a classic feint in Napoleon’s wars.) ”

“ Revers montant.—You feint in Seconde; the opponent comes to its parry and replies in Tierce; you withdraw the arm, leaving the heels as they were, and cut upwards with the false edge, tightening the grasp of thumb and fore-fingers as much as possible. This movement is especially useful; it is one of the best of Time Cuts, when the adversary indulges in long and complicated feints and false attacks. ”

“ At times feint as though you intended to thrust home, in order to let him explain himself and divulge to you his play. Thus you will learn whether he intends to retreat, to parry, or to extend the sword. A man under such circumstances must be perfectly sure and master of himself not to betray his "little game " by instinctive and involuntary movements. ”

“ The phrase is in good usage, however, in [81] the sense of “to pass away gradually; vanish; die out;” as, “religious animosity would of itself fade away” (Macaulay, Hist. of England, vol. 2, p. 134) .
faint, feint, and feign all come from the French, feindre, which is derived from the Latin, fingo, shape. The first two, similarly pronounced, have very different significations. Faint means a sudden loss of consciousness or swoon; feint signifies a deceptive move or pretense. To feign is to make a false show of; pretend.
fake: Slang term for imposition; fraud ”

“ Whether to attack determinedly or only as a feint, or to assume the defensive, depends upon the strength of the advance guard, the terrain, the character of the hostile force encountered, and the mission and intentions of the commander of the whole. ”

“ Thus the head of a column of a great depth of ranks must infallibly pierce through lines who have only at most two or three men deep; and by feint attacks all over the front of a line, you cannot weaken one part of it by drawing troops from it to fortify another part of it, unless the point of the enemy’s principal attack is manifestly known. ”

“ Sometimes, indeed, the fact that you employ an immense number of troops in an operation is by no means a proof that that is your true objective; for you may be justified in carrying it out, even if it is only a feint, so that your feint may have a better chance of deceiving the enemy. ”

“ Finally, it is always unexpected by the opponent who has not practised it, and although it rarely begins an assault, except against the inexperienced, nor should it be done alone as a rule, it may either follow or conclude every attack, feint or "time." ”

“ In order to counteract, or at least to lessen the disadvantage to which you are exposed on your advance, you must occupy your opponent’s attention by continually threatening him in the different lines; for by compelling him to protect himself you prevent him from attacking you, and meanwhile little by little you gain ground.
“It is a good plan to feint a serious attack in order to compel him to show his hand, and to find out whether he means to rely on a parry, or if he will simply straighten his arm. ”

“ II. The divisions under Generals Huger and Magruder will hold their positions in front of the enemy against attack, and make such demonstrations Thursday as to discover his operations. Should opportunity offer, the feint will be converted into a real attack, and should an abandonment of his intrenchments by the enemy be discovered, he will be closely pursued. ”

“ To wear a mask in a bout with the foils was as much as to say that you considered your opponent a duffer, and was not far short of an insult.
“Fencing in those days was nothing but a formal series of attacks, feints, parries and ripostes, well understood and defined by the code; every movement led up to some other movement, which was rigidly prescribed. ”

“ Not many years ago the excessive use of feints, as you have already learned, was held in highest honour. But the whirligig of time now shows another face. The tacit convention between fencers, which made it a point of politeness for one to follow wherever the other led, has gone out of fashion that is out of the world. If you manoeuvre too much, I make an opposition of the sword, and lunge home without a word of apology; or I extend my arm and touch you with a stop thrust in the midst of your flourishes and arabesques. ”

“ Address, however, is often attended in these contests with better success than strength, and a well-managed feint exercised at the moment of the expected concussion, even when the weight of metal would be very unequal, often brings the more weighty tumbling to the ground, while the other is seen quietly seated on the spot where she had with great art and agility dropped herself. ”

“ Or you may proceed by a false engagement, your weak being opposed to his strong, or again by a demi-attack which is safe enough if freely marked. Either the adversary comes to the parry or he extends the sword; you then take possession of it, being careful never to quit it, and, above all things, not to feint.
I am speaking scientifically, you will observe, of these various "stoppings." If a man says to me, "I know very little of fencing, but I defend myself as I can," he is welcome to all the faults he fancies ”

“ If there is such an object, and the strategic flank of the assailant cannot be seriously menaced, then such position should not be taken up, or if it is it should only be as a feint to see whether the assailant can be imposed upon respecting its value ”

“ Your adversary, you say, will not come to an engagement. Very good; then you must force him to it by feints, or by threatening to attack. Either he attempts to parry or he attempts to thrust. In either case you get command of his blade by a simple or by a double beat, as the case may be, and then you drive your attack home.
“It holds good with fencing, as it does with all warlike measures, whether on a large scale or [Pg 109] small, that you must not wait for what you want to be brought to you; you must learn to help yourself; take no denial, but by force or fraud get possession. ”

“ The Beauty of an Assault appears in the Execution of the Design. Make no Thrust without considering the Advantage and the Danger of it. If the Eye and Wrist precede the Body, the Execution will be good. Be always cautious, Time lost cannot be regained. If you can hit without a Feint, make none, two Motions are more dangerous than one. To know what you risque, you must know what you are worth. If you would do well, acquire the agreeable and useful. Twenty good Qualities will not make you perfect, and one bad one will hinder your being so. Judge of a Thrust, rather by Reason than by it's Success ”

“ Not realizing that the movement was but a feint intended to deceive the enemy in the hope that they might withdraw some of their heavy guns from the bluff and thus make easier the passage of the fleet, Bank’s soldiers showered curses on him and his tactics. ”

“ To this Manner of parrying Seconde, there is but one Opposite, which is done by feinting below, and as the Adversary is going to cross your Sword, in order to parry, you must disengage by a little Circle, with the Hand in Seconde, which preventing the Enemy's Sword, gives an Opportunity of hitting him above, if the Wrist is lower than I have observed, or in Flanconnade, if the Wrist is high. A Man that parrys below, in order to avoid this Feint, must redouble his Circle to meet the Blade. ”

“ Some Men hold their Swords strait or flat, [3] whether 'tis because they are more used to Disengagements than Parades, or to take Advantage of the Superiority of their Stature, or of the Length of their Sword, to avoid the Attacks and Engagements to which the other Guards are more exposed; for you can hardly engage or feint on this Guard, the Point being too low ”

“ To do this, make a false attack, that is, attack with a half longe so that you can the more readily recover and guard; thus, having drawn out and guarded his cut, instantly deliver a genuine one.
To prevent this being done upon you, draw back your hand as your adversary makes his false attack, and thus avoiding his sword, deliver a cut on his head with a longe (vide Plate XVII.) .
OBSERVATIONS ON FEINTING. When a man makes a feint on you and you foresee his intention, do not answer it, but wait and parry his last movement. ”

“ Each champion grasps the edges of his shield firmly with both hands, and, after various feints and grimaces to throw his opponent off his guard, a clash is heard as one springs forward and his shield strikes that of his antagonist. ”

“ In those days of the good old school, which perhaps, Lady Mary, you will be surprised to hear is so far from extinct that it shows many signs of vigorous life; in those antiquated times, still re- flected by our own, fencing was a series of feints, of attacks, of parries, and of riposts, previously calculated and combined like "openings" in games of skill. One move inevitably brought on another. ”

“ To Hang upon the rear of a retreating enemy. To follow the movements of any body of men so closely as to be a constant annoyance to them.
It requires both judgment and activity in the commanding officer of a pursuing army to execute this business without endangering his troops. For it might happen that the retreating enemy, seeing an opportunity to make a retrograde flank movement from its front, would practice a feint in its rear, and suddenly appear upon the right or left of his pursuers. ”