> > Considering that a broadsword could, with a reasonably
> > strong man behind it, sever a forearm with metal
> > armour on it - to the extent that it was one of the most
> > common injuries in battle...
>What period's that?
In my reading (actually one book on Napoleanic Warfare), it's associated with scimitars as they are better suited to attacking an enemy's extremites. As the europeans stuck to the cutlass which inflicted wounds on the torso, the scimitar in the hands of the dread turk acquired a brown-trouser-causing mystique among those unfortunate to fight them.
Any sort of sword could be adapted to arm-chopping. A medical doctor seeing some unusual wounds during the second sikh war decided to trace their source. He was astonished to find that the dreaded arm-choppers were actually using modified british dragoon blades - all they had done was sharpen them until they were razor sharp and store them in wooden scabbards. There wasn't even any special technique to arm chopping, just strike hard.
--Peter Metcalfe
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