Armed Forces' Flags (Spain)

Last modified: 2005-02-26 by santiago dotor
Keywords: armed forces |
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• Spanish Military Flags
• Regimental Colours
• Flags at Spanish Military Museums
• Air Force Colours and Guidons
• Flags of "Regulares" Units

See also:

• Rank and Positional Flags
• Ensigns, Jack and Commissioning Pennant
• Flag-like logo on Spanish army vehicles in Iraq
• Pledge to the Flag (Jura de Bandera)
• Historical Flags (Spain)

Other sites:

• Banderas Militares (Military Flags, Spanish text only) by Sergio Camero
• Banderas y Estandartes (Flags and Standards, Spanish text only) with military flags of the 16th and 17th centuries at the Tercios Españoles website
• Emblemas y Guiones de La Legión (Emblems and Guidons of the [Spanish Foreign] Legion, Spanish text only) at the Amigos de la Legión Española website
• Heráldica del Ejercito de Tierra Español (Heraldry of the Spanish Army, Spanish text only)

For those interested in military flags, I have recently acquired a book Soldados de España, Bueno, Madrid 1998. Although it is primarily a book on Spanish army uniforms, it has more than 50 Spanish military flags mostly regimental standards or unit guidons, all in color, from 1600 to the present. I think it is still in print and it is no doubt most easily obtainable in Spain.

Norman Martin, 19 June 1999

Most —if not all— military colours, cavalry and armoured units' guidons etc. are 1:1.

Santiago Dotor, 14 July 1999

The Spanish Air Force fin flash —a black thin saltire on white— represents the Burgundy Cross, a 500-year-old Spanish (mostly military) flag.

Santiago Dotor, 14 October 1999

I have seen (I think in Sergio Camero's website, but certainly at the website of Infantry Regiment no. 1 Inmemorial del Rey) that at least some modern Spanish regiments still have coronela colors in addition to the red-yellow-red regimental color or standard. What are the rules for these coronelas and how they are used today? The red-yellow-red flag with arms and inscription would seem to fill the traditional role of a coronela, and I recall the Infantry Regiment no. 1 website specifically saying that in the 19th century the old coronelas were replaced by the color based on the national flag.

Also, do you know if the modern Guardia Real carries any special flags other than the red-yellow-red?

Joseph McMillan, 12 February 2002

In the present Spanish Army, all regiments and other units such as independent brigades, logistical groupings etc. have a red-yellow-red regulation colour. Apart from that, each battalion has a guión and each company of each battalion a banderín but these are second order flags which