14.2.6. Finckh's Engagements

Alfred E. Finckh, MB completed a monograph in 1946 titled Academic Fencing.  Finckh, who served at the time as the President of the Australian Amateur Fencing Association, viewed himself as a revolutionary.  His work was inspired by the French Ministry of War Reglement d'Escrime of 1908, Maestro di Scherma Masaniello Parise's 1904 A Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Fencing, and Count de Bazancourt's The Secrets of the Sword (Clay's 1900 translation).  And then, somewhere in the period before 1928, Finckh developed his own system of fencing.

Finch approaches the theory of fencing by dividing his technical work into sections on elementary training, deflections, parries, parrythrusts, the defense, and the attack.  The Deflections are opposition actions.  In the attack, they are executed with a fully extended arm to deflect the opponents blade by taking the opponent's foible with the forte to clear the line and allow a hit with a thrust.  The thrust is either a straight thrust or a thrust with a rotation of the forearm combined with a turn of the wrist. These actions are termed Engagements.  On the defence they are executed with a bent arm to prevent the opponent's attack landing and are termed Parries.

Finckh believed that coming on guard with an engagement of blades at medium or short distance in the position of 4th parry was unrealistic and a significant cause of disorderly fencing.  He argued that  the International rules specified a distance apart of 13 feet 2 inches when ready to fence; hence it made no sense to train fencers for blade to blade traditional engagement.  In his system engagement becomes a sequenced action similar to the family of opposition thrusts.  Note that the reference to 4th parry in coming on guard is archaic, certainly by 1946, but almost certainly so by the time he had composed most of the manuscript in the 1920s.  

As noted, Finckh's Engagements are executed with a fully extended, stiff, straight arm, and without any fingerplay.  The sequence starts with a full extension of the arm and blade in a  straight line, followed by the rotation and wrist movement into the position of deflection with what Finckh terms is a "snap." The thumb and all of the fingers must maintain a firm grip with the direction of blade movement controlled with the wrist and forearm. Contact with the three aid fingers on the grip is never relaxed, even if the pommel leaves the hand as the wrist turns.  There is no fingerplay.  The sudden, precise bend of the wrist is used to displace the opponent's blade.  He uses hand positions in supination, pronation, and a close approximation of Italian First hand position (see post 0.2.2. "Italian Hand Positions," November 2018).

Note that throughout Finckh's text the emphasis is on a solid grip with the blade controlled by wrist and forearm motion.  Finckh believed that fingerplay was a source of weakness that could lead to a loss of control.

The engagements are, in the order in which Finckh lists them:

Fourth - the 4th Engagement deflects the opponent's blade upward in the inside line.  To execute the engagement the straight thrust is extended horizontally at shoulder height with the hand in supination. Make a quick clockwise rotation of the forearm raising the hand approximately 5 inches diagonally to the inside and simultaneously bending the wrist down and to the outside.  This directs the blade downward and toward the outside; in all of this the position of the point should not move. 

Third - the 3rd Engagement deflects the opponent's blade to the outside line.  When on guard with the arm fully extended and the hand in supination, execute the engagement by rotating the forearm counterclockwise until the hand is in pronation with the wrist bent to the inside with the hand slightly lowered ads the grip and pommel are lowered in the rotation.  The knuckle of the little finger should be slightly lower than that of the index finger.  The point remains in place, with the guard at the outside edge of the target at armpit level.

First - the 1st Engagement deflects the opponent's blade vertically in the high line.  From the position of a horizontal thrust with the hand in supination, rotate the forearm counterclockwise for three quarters of a turn so that the nails face to the outside.  Simultaneously the hand is raised vertically and turned downward so that the guard is in front of the face.  The point remains in place.

Second - the 2nd Engagement deflects the opponent's blade to the outside low line.  This engagement starts with a thrust to the low line with the point no lower than a few inches below the position when on guard.  Note that Finckh uses a guard position with the forearm parallel to the ground, hand in supination.  Rotate the forearm counterclockwise into pronation as the hand moves to the outside and the wrist bends to the inside.  The blade and arm viewed from the side appear to be in a straight line; the hand moves to the outside but is not raised.  The point remains in place.

Seventh - the 7th Engagement deflects the opponent's blade to the inside low line.  Again this engagement is executed from a low thrust, with a straight arm.  A slight clockwise forearm rotation with a bend of the wrist toward the outside places the center of the guard on the inside edge of the target.  The blade and arm viewed from the side appear to be in a straight line; the hand moves to the inside but is not raised.  The point remains in place.

Finckh provides an extensive description of the application of these techniques which will be addressed in a future blog post.

Copyright 2018 by Walter G. Green III

Finckh's Engagements by Walter G. Green III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.