Pole weapon long blade used by both infantry and cavalry. Occasionally glaive blades were created with a small hook or spike on the reverse side. Such glaives are named glaive-guisarme. A voulge (occasionally called a pole cleaver) is a curved blade attached to a pole by binding the lower 2/3 of the blade to the side of the pole, to form a sort of axe. Looks very similar to a glaive. A svärdstav (literally sword-staff) is a Swedish medieval pole arm that consists of a two-edged sword blade attached to a staff. The illustrations often show the weapon being equipped with sword-like
Operation Halberd vessels to be scuttled. The rest of the convoy arrived at Malta and discharged their cargo. Operation Halberd was at the time the largest Malta resupply effort of the war. Nine merchant ships carrying 81,000 tons of military equipment and supplies sailed from Liverpool on 16 September and from the Clyde on 17 September as part of convoy WS (Winston Specials) 11X, passing Gibraltar on 24 September 1941, with a close escort under the command of Rear-Admiral Harold Burrough. The nine ships were: Force H, under the command of Admiral James Somerville, accompanied the convoy as defence against Italian surface