Vexillology of W.W.II

Just something i have been wondering about - Anybody know anything about the flags of World War II? I read somewhere that the gold of the German flag was changed to white. Anybody know if that's true? What about the Russian flag? Was that different to nowadays? Or...anything else, really. I am quite interested in vexillology in general.

The Russian flag as you know it today (blue white red) obviously wasnt as it existed during WWII Soviet Union

was this your question? also I cannot comment on the german flag. dont know

I thought the white of German flags was turned to gold? It was the Empire flag after Prussia unified Germany which was Black white and red, then it changed to the Weimar Republic flag, black red and gold, which is basically the same as the one we use today. It then changed to the flag of the NSDAP party when Hitler rose to power, and then changed back again to the Weimar flag after WW2, then East Germany changed their flag to the DDR flag with a compass in the middle from 1959 to 1990.

Russian Empire used a tricolour black, gold and white flag until 1883, it then changed to the white, blue, red tricolour (the one Russia uses these days) that had an coat of arms added to it in 1914 which in turn was changed to the SFSR flag (Hammer and Sickle) in 1922 which was the one they used until 1955.

The official verse said something like-
'The state flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics consists of a red or scarlet field, and in the canton a golden sickle and hammer, and a red five-pointed star bordered in gold above them. The ratio of width to length is 1:2.'

I don't think there was a strict design on how the hammer and sickle should look or even what red to use, so the flag had a lot of variations.

Last edited April 22, 2011 at 8:20 PM by BurroDiablo

History of German flag:

In the movement of 1848 revolution, there were the colors of the students - black, red and gold (from the black of the servitude through the red of the bloody battles to the gold of victory).
Because the revolution failed, the students weren't able to implement their flag, so the new flag of black - white- red was chosen (black and white from the Prussian flag and red from the largest cities in northern Germany (Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin all have red flags/signs)).
It was the flag of the new monarchy, led by the emperor Wilhelm I.
As a sign of democracy, the black-red-gold was chosen for the Weimarer Republik, which actually hadn't lasted very long, until Hitler rose up and set the flag of his party (NSDAPs one with the black swastika in a white circle surrounded by red) to Germanys flag.
After the Germans lost the war, there were discussions about new flags. There were many suggestions, but in the end, black-red-gold succeeded in Western Germany and in October 1949 also in the DDR, with hammer and compass as an addition, a sign for communism.

Thanks very much for the info, guys. I thought that the German flag during N.S.D.A.P. control of Germany was black-red-white (downwards), whilst the N.S.D.A.P. themselves used the Hooked Cross. Is that not correct?

By the way, anybody have any pictures of flags of any nation during W.W.II?

These wiki links show the majority of the flags of the powers during WW2.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II

Thanks, mate. :)

The modern Russian Federation flag has origins in Tsarist Russia. The Nazis I dion't think really used the German Imperial Flag which you are probably thinking of. The Ostheer flag is ctually one of the German Imperial Flags.

Last edited April 24, 2011 at 11:51 PM by HyperSniper999

Cool, thanks. I don't think i've seen the Ostheers flag yet...

pariah wrote:
Cool, thanks. I don't think i've seen the Ostheers flag yet...

I think a beta shot of the mod has the skirmish/MP game with the Red Army playing on Allies and Ostheer playing on Axis. It shows their flags.

Also, the Ostheer sneak peaks have the flag as well. The OH flag's Iron Cross is larger than the the German Imperial Flag's cross, but otherwise the flags are the same.

You can see it every time you are selecting the faction to play. It's not on the drop box but is closer :P.

Is it only a beta version or the final OH flag?

It should be final ???

So the number of factions in CoH must be even? Even the Ostheer isn't completed, they have to apear their icon in the skirmish/MP window?

stavka88 wrote:
So the number of factions in CoH must be even? Even the Ostheer isn't completed, they have to apear their icon in the skirmish/MP window?

No, the Ostheer isn't playable yet. I just swear seeing a pre-release screen as of OH was playable.