"Southpaw soldiers" Topic

I have a unit of old Ral Partha medieval highlanders – all of whom are left-handed.

Hollywood sometimes has entire units of lefties because they reverse the film for whatever reason. Seen it many times. (for the benefit of 'non-yankees' the term "Southpaw" is American baseball slang for left hander. Used because of the orientation of most ball parks – a lefty pitcher's arm was on the south side)

But I imagine, throughout most of history, you weren't allowed to be left handed. It wouldn't work in a phalanx, legion or even a "thin read line."

So the question, I wonder when it was that soldiers were allowed to be lefties?

I have a unit of old Ral Partha medieval highlanders – all of whom are left-handed.

Hollywood sometimes has entire units of lefties because they reverse the film for whatever reason. Seen it many times. (for the benefit of 'non-yankees' the term "Southpaw" is American baseball slang for left hander. Used because of the orientation of most ball parks – a lefty pitcher's arm was on the south side)

But I imagine, throughout most of history, you weren't allowed to be left handed. It wouldn't work in a phalanx, legion or even a "thin read line."

So the question, I wonder when it was that soldiers were allowed to be lefties?

That problem was driven home when I was involved in Civil War reenacting. Occasionally you would get a recruit who was left handed and it was definitely a problem to convince them that they had to shoot right handed or they couldn't play "soldier" with us!

Interesting question. Can modern firearms be used the "wrong" way round, or would the stream of ejected cartridges (or even the spark of a flint lock) be a problem?

I never had a problem with hot brass with the SLR or M16 shooting left handed – the ejection port was far enough forward that it was never a problem. The Steyr, though, being a bullpup design had the ejection port at the rear, so I needed a left handed conversion, otherwise I just had to be a right hander for live firing. The conversion was simple enough,a new bolt face and switching the ejection port cover over and I was good to go. Shot much better with the customised version, unsurprisingly. To answer the OP question, it would have been the late 90s in the Australian Army.

I recall that the M16 had an adapter for the ejection port to used by lefties. It guided the brass and gas more forward. We had a few left-handed shooters in basic training.

Here it is: YouTube link

I remember a WWII movie where someone was using a Sten left handed. With his right arm crossing under his left to hold the magazine. Looked a bit awkward.

The lefty sniper in "Saving Private Ryan" had a difficult time working the bolt.

The Scots had many left handed within the ranks. Much less of a problem in ancient and medieval warfare. Often, the majority of Scots would be left handed. This trait was called 'cack handed'.

@mildbill (clever name!), might I ask what's the evidence for the proportion of Cack-haundit Scots you mention? I've certainly seen a number of pictures showing pipers playing the opposite way from what's normal, though I assumed these were intended for prints (in which the usual position would be restored). There were'nt any soldiers, either with firearm or broadsword, in these pictures, which would of course have confirmed the reason for the apparent reversal.

I went thru training in 1968 with the M14 and the M16 and no one ever said anything about firing left-handed. I'm actually right-handed, but my left eye has always been my better one. To fire right-handed and use my left eye was always awkward, so going lefty always got me qualified.
I was always aware of brass flying and an occasional spent casing would somehow find its way into my jacket!
So, in California, in 1968, lefties could be lefties!

Actually MildBill I would think if anything it would be a bigger problem in any time period when a shield was used – it would screw up the shield wall.

it would screw up the shield wall.

Only for the overlapping styles. It's actually an advantage to have left-handed people in a testudo.

I'm lefty too …

I recall that the M16 had an adapter for the ejection port to used by lefties

Yep, it just clicked on between the sight bridge and upper receiver over top of the ejection port. Used in often. However, received a few hot ejected shell burns if my sleeves were 1/2 way up. Left a nice imprint of the shell casing.

Never used, saw or heard of one for the M14. Really didn't need it, IIRC.