Mittelhut

Longsword

A high side guard which forms one of the secondary guards in Meyer. The mittelhut is not illustrated in Meyer's text for longsword, but is shown for dussack and is also shown in Mair (shown above).

A middle guard held to the side of the body; a natural start and end point for a mittelhauw strike. Care should be taken not to let the elbow and hands extend too far in front of the body lest they become a target.

The mittelhut can be font or back weighted posture. A back weighted mittelhut can transition to a zornhut simply by turning the torso away from the opponent so the point turns toward the opponent behind the fencer's back.

Polearm

From high guard lower the staff to be directly in line with the opponent’s chest/face. The rear hand remains high so the staff sticks out and threatens the thrust. This is the middle guard. It is also called straight parrying, and when the weapon is drawn back with a significant amount of butt by the side, field guard.

Dagger

As with most dagger guards this one is much more generic than the sword equivalents, being any guard held at the belt/torso level, be it off to one side or centrally. In all cases the point is assumed to be toward the opponent ready for a stabbing attack. A middle guard on the left from Mair is shown in the illustration.

Generally the guards are held in reverse grip (thumb toward the pommel) however several sections of the text describe attacks and methods from the orthodox (sword like) grip.