Commanding officer's pennants of the French army in Algeria, 1837

Last modified: 2002-09-07 by ivan sache
Keywords: commanding officer's pennant | brigade | commander-in-chief | ambulance |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

• Overview
• 1st brigade
• 2nd brigade
• 3rd brigade
• Commander-in-chief
• Ambulance

See also:

• France
• France: Military flags
• France: Commanding officer's pennants
• Algeria: French colonization
• Commanding officer's pennants of the French army in Kabylia (Algeria), 1857 - Part 1
• Pennants of the African French army
• Commanding officer's pennants of the French army in Algeria, 1837
• Pennants of the Algerian Tirailleurs

Overview

According to Pierre Charrié [chr92], the commanding officer's pennants in the French Army seems to have been invented in Algeria. Charrié lists three possible origins for these pennants:

• symbols of the delegation of the Royal power overseas
• special emblems as opposed to Abd-el-Kader's standards
• imitation of the naval use.

On 9 April 1837, General Bugeaud ordered the following:

"...since it is necessary to be able to find out immediatly where the commanders of brigades and the ambulance are located, each chief of brigade shall order his orderly to bear a pennant [flamme], which shall be red and white for the first brigade, blue and white for the second briga