International Military Colors & Flags
The tradition of distinctive military flags as a rally point can be traced to Antiquity. The modern practice of unit flags originated in medieval Europe, and although the modern battlefield have precluded their use, they retain their symbolic importance.Back to Tours
More info »United Kingdom 5th Royal Veteran Battalion.U.K. 5th Royal Veteran's Reserve Regiment circa 1812, deaccessed from the Smithsonian. This post 1801 British Infantry Color can be distinguished from its predecessors by the diagonal, so-called St. Patrick's red counter-changed cross in the canton. Used between 1802 and 1819, carried by the 5th Royal Veteran Battalion.
More info »France - National Guard Color 15th Battalion.France - National Guard Color 15th Battalion, 1870. Its inscriptions and distinctive finial can identify this flag, from the De Young Museum. Following the defeat of the French Army in the 1870 war with Prussia and the creation of the radical Commune in Paris, the regular Army was replaced by a National Guard.
More info »Cuba 4th Btn, 2nd Co, Havana Volunteers.Spanish Colony, Cuban 4th Btn, 2nd Co, Havana Volunteers, extremely rare Cuban Militia Color, 1898 The Cuban Volunteers were troops raised in Cuba after the first war for Cuban independence in 1868. Used against the rebels, they were drawn from Cuba's lower classes and were accused of harsh tactics.
More info »Chinese Imperial Army Designating Flag.Chinese Imperial Army, Forbidden City Designating Flag - Boxer Rebellion, 1900, Capture by 14th US Infantry. This pennant was previously represented as a flag associated with the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or "Boxers." A preliminary translation of the ideograms has led to an alternative conclusion on the flag.
More info »Czechoslovakia Calvary Presentation Guidon.Czechoslovakia Calvary Presentation Guidon - "Jana Husi", 1920 - 1939. This is a silk presentation guidon from the Czechoslovakian Army of the so-called First Czech Republic. The guidon is inscribed in red on the upper white stripe with the words, "Venuje pěšà pluk Mistra Jana Husi." On the lower red stripe, "CSR" is inscribed in white.
More info »U.K. Royal Artillery, Camp Flag, WWII.U.K. Royal Artillery, Camp Flag, WWII. A Royal Artillery camp flag of Battery (S) of the Light Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Regiment of the Royal Artillery. Although batteries of the Royal Artillery do not carry colors - the gun is considered the symbol of the unit - their camps were often marked with flags like this example.
More info »U.K. Airborne Divisional HQ Pennant, WWIIU.K. Airborne Divisional HQ Pennant, WWII This Pennant came directly from the Estate of U.S. Army General Matthew B. Ridgway. The insignia of the British Paratroopers features the winged horse Pegasus beneath Bellerophon, slayer of monsters and, according to Greek myth, the first airborne warrior.
More info »Albania Communist Partisan flag WWIIA communist partisan flag from Axis Albania. In 1945, at the end of World War II, an American soldier traded two cartons of Lucky Strike cigarettes for this flag. This flag is made partially of damask material that once adorned the windows of a wealthy family in Eastern Europe.
More info »Japan - Private Kanai Industrial Youth SchoolImperial Japan,"Private Kanai Industrial Youth School Color, 1945. " This Japanese organizational color is in excellent condition. It conforms to the general style of Imperial Japanese regimental flags. Japanese army colors bore purple fringe, so the significance of the golden yellow fringe and the insignia on this flag remain unknown.
More info »Royal Pakistan Artillery Centre Camp Flag.Royal Pakistan Artillery Centre Camp Flag. This Royal Pakistani Artillery Centre flag was the fourth flag in the Zaricor Flag Collection. The method of construction of this flag is consistent with the haste with which the Artillery branch of the newly formed Pakistani Army was created.
More info »Viet Cong 307th Battalion of the 273rd Regiment.Viet Cong 307th Battalion of the 273rd Regiment. This fringed cotton Vietcong Battalion color is embroidered with the unit number "307" and the Vietnamese slogan "Quyet Thang" or "Resolved to Win." The flag is a war trophy taken in combat from the Viet Cong.
More info »Vietnam People's Liberation Army Color.Vietnam People's Liberation Army Color, Captured by Co. B, 187th RCT, 101st Airborne. This flag was made in anticipation of a successful "liberation" of Saigon and was taken by counter forces. The flag, from the Tet offensive, was kept as a trophy by Corporal William Street.
More info »PR China Unit 8706 Color Commemorative ColorPeople's Republic of China - Cultural Revolution. A rare silk unit numbered commemorative military flag dating from China's Cultural Revolution.
More info »U.K. Paratroop Camp Flag - Falklands War 1982.U.K. Paratroop Camp Flag from the Falklands War 1982. This maroon flag bears the cap badge of the United Kingdom's paratroops: a British paratroop camp flag used during the 1982 Falklands Islands War. It is not a regimental flag, but a flag used to indicate a camp or vehicle of that military organization.
More info »Communist Youth League Flag of 1987.Communist Youth League Flag from the Sino-Vietnamese Conflict 1987 This is a presentation flag of the Communist Youth League of China (CYL). This flag is a silent witness to the history of a conflict almost unknown in the west.
More info »Afghanistan, Taliban Artillery Regimental ColorTaliban Artillery Regimental H.Q. Color, taken Nov. 2001, Jalalabad, Afghanistan. This Taliban flag was recovered from the rubble of what is believed to be the regimental commander's office of the headquarters of the Taliban Army in Jalabad, Afghanistan. It was recovered in November 2001 by independent film maker Jim Burroughs.
