Russian Infantry Flags

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Scruff
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Russian Infantry Flags

Post by Scruff » Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:00 am

Hello everyone

Im busy beavering away with a huge pile of Russian lead that I brought painted, and have given a black wash and highlight to make them "pop" so to speak and have reflaged most of the infantry.

My question thou is on the Flags the Preobrazkensky, Izmailovsky, Semenovsky Guard infantry carried up until 1812 .
Ive come across a couple references that says they carried a red "crossed" flag and an other that suggests they carried a different colored flag each.

Ive printed off the flags myself, thanks to Foundry having a really nice flag section under the Napoleon rules downloads, so the regular infantry are well taken care of for their White and Colored flags, but Im a bit in the dark for the Guard.

cheers

(and eagerly waiting on his copy of the rules)
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Greystreak
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Post by Greystreak » Wed Nov 03, 2010 9:16 am

Gidday, Scruff, and welcome to the Forum, where a growing number of Kiwis seem to be appearing! (Valleyboy, von Peter, Captain Chook, etc.) I was fortunate to live and work in NZ myself for three years in the early 1990's, and have been collecting/researching Russians for several years as well.

I've looked into your question, for the three specific regiments you've named, and consulted my copy of Opsrey MAA 78, Flags of the Napoleonic Wars (2): Austria, Britain, Prussia & Russia, by Terrence Wise & Guido Rosignoli, as well compared them to the download flags offered by Foundry.

From Wise & Rosignoli's work, we learn that from 1800 to 13th April 1813, the three guard regiments specified carried the same type of colours: 1st battalion - 1 x white (Foundry "Guards White 1800 Issue"), and 1 x coloured (Foundry "Guards Coloured Issue"), while 2nd and subsequent battalions carried 2 x 'coloured' flags (Foundry "Guards Coloured Issue"). All three named regiments had the same flags and distribution scheme by battalion, with distinctions only by the colour of the flag "staves" per regiment as follows: Preobrajenski - coffee brown stave for 'white flag', pale yellow staves for 'coloured' flags; Semenov - black staves for both colours; and Izmailovsky - white staves for both colours.

In other words, you're quite 'safe' to use the Foundry 'download' colours identified above for those three specific regiments up to 13th April 1813, after which it all gets a bit 'messy', with changes on 26th August 1813, and 24th December 1813, for which you'd best consult a copy of the Osprey 78 mentioned above. The other infantry regiments which were admitted to the Guard between 1803 and 1813 took flags of a different scheme--so beware.

Hope that helps!
Bryce
Scruff
Sergeant First Class
Sergeant First Class
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:14 am
Location: Townsville, Australia

Post by Scruff » Wed Nov 03, 2010 9:38 pm

Thank you Greystreak. That confirms some of the reading Ive come up with as well.

I had come across the stave colors as well, but didnt know about the yellow for the Preobrajenski coloured flag, cheers for that one as well :)

btw Ive seen some of your work on various forums, very nice stuff :)

cheers
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