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COLOURS, MILITARY

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 731 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COLOURS, MILITARY , the flags carried by See also:infantry regiments and battalions, sometimes also by troops of other arms. See also:Cavalry regiments and other See also:units have as a See also:rule See also:standards and guidons (see See also:FLAG). Colours are generally embroidered with mottoes, symbols, and above all with the names of battles. From the earliest See also:time at which men fought in organized bodies of troops, the latter have possessed some sort of insignia visible over all the See also:field of See also:battle, and serving as a rallying-point for the men of the See also:corps and an indication of position for the higher leaders and the men of other formed bodies. In the See also:Roman See also:army the See also:eagle, the See also:vexillum, &c. had all the moral and sentimental importance of the colours of to-See also:day. During the dark and the See also:middle ages, however, the basis of military force being the individual See also:knight or See also:lord, the banner, or other flag bearing his arms, replaced the regimental See also:colour which had signified the corporate See also:body and claimed the devotion of each individual soldier in the ranks, though the See also:original meaning of the (After See also:Miller-Pouillet's Lehrbuch der Physik, 1197.) colour as a corps, not a See also:personal distinction, was sometimes maintained by corporate bodies (such as See also:trade-See also:gilds) which took the field as such. An example is the famous carroccio or See also:standard on wheels, which was frequently brought into the field of battle by the See also:citizen See also:militia of the See also:Italian cities, and was fought for with the same ardour as the royal standard in other See also:medieval battles. The application of the word " colour " to such insignia, how-ever, See also:dates only from the 16th See also:century. It has been suggested that, as the professional See also:captain gradually ousted the nobleman from the command of the drilled and organized companies of foot—the See also:man of See also:gentle See also:birth, of course, maintained his ascendancy in the cavalry far longer—the leaders of such bodies, no longer possessing coat-See also:armour and individual See also:banners, had recourse to small flags of distinctive colour instead. " Colour " is in the 16th century a See also:common name in See also:England and middle See also:Europe for the unit of infantry; in See also:German the Fdhnlein (colour) of landsknechts was a strong See also:company of more than 300 See also:foot. The ceremonial observances and honours paid nowadays to the colours of infantry were in fact founded for the most See also:part by the landsknechts, for whom the flag (carried by their " See also:ensign ") was symbolical of their intense regimental See also:life and feeling. The now universal customs of constituting the colour guard of picked men and of saluting the colours were in equal See also:honour then; before that indeed, the See also:appearance of the personal banner of a nobleman implied his actual presence with it, and the due honours were paid, but the colour of the 16th century was not the distinction of one man, but the See also:symbol of the corporate life and unity of the See also:regiment, and thus the new colour ceremonial implied the same See also:allegiance to an impersonal regimental spirit, which it has (with the difference that the See also:national spirit has been blended with the regimental) retained ever since.

The old soldier rallied to the colours as a See also:

matter of See also:habit in the confusion of battle, and the See also:capture or the loss of a colour has always been considered a See also:special event, glorious or the See also:reverse, in the See also:history of a regiment, the importance of this being chiefly sentimental, but having as a very real background the fact that, if its colour was lost, a regiment was to all intents and purposes dissolved and dispersed. See also:Frederick the See also:Great and See also:Napoleon always attached the highest importance to the See also:maintenance at all See also:costs of the regimental colours. Even over See also:young troops the See also:influence of the colour has been extraordinary, and many generals have steadied their men in the See also:heat of battle by taking a regimental colour themselves to See also:lead the advance or to See also:form up the troops. Thus in the first battle of See also:Bull Run (1861) the raw Confederate troops were rallied under a heavy See also:fire by See also:General See also:Joseph See also:Johnston, their See also:commander-in-See also:chief, who stood with a colour in his See also:hand until the men gathered quickly in See also:rank and See also:file. The See also:arch-See also:duke See also:Charles at Aspern (1809) led his young troops to the last See also:assault with a colour in his hand. See also:Marshal See also:Schwerin was killed at the battle of See also:Prague while carrying a regimental colour. In the See also:British army colours are carried by See also:guards and See also:line (except See also:rifle) battalions, each See also:battalion having two colours, the See also:king's and the regimental. The See also:size of the colour.is 3 ft. 9 in. by 3 ft., and the length of the stave 8 ft. 7 in. The colour has a See also:gold fringe and gold and See also:crimson tassels, and bears various devices and " battle honours." Both colours are carried by subaltern See also:officers, and an escort of selected non-commissioned officers forms the See also:rest of the colour party. The ceremony of presenting new colours is most impressive.

The old colours are " trooped " (see below) before being cased and taken to the See also:

rear. The new colours are then placed against a See also:pile of drums and then uncased by the See also:senior majors and the senior subalterns. The See also:consecration follows, after which the colours are presented to the senior subalterns. The battalion gives a general salute when the colours are unfurled, and 'the ceremony concludes with a See also:march past. " Trooping the colour " is a more elaborate ceremonial See also:peculiar to the British service, and is said to have been invented by the duke of See also:Cumberland. In this, the colour is posted near the See also:left of the line, the right company or guard moves up to it, and an officer receives it, after which the guard with the colour files between the ranks of the See also:remainder from left to right until the right of the line is reached. In the See also:United States army the infantry regiment has two colours, the national and the regimental. They are carried in See also:action. In the See also:French army one colour (drapeau) is carried by each infantry regiment. It is carried by an officer, usually a sous-See also:lieutenant, and the guard is composed of a non-commissioned officer and a party of "first class" soldiers. Regiments which have taken an enemy's colour or standard in battle have their own colours " decorated," that is, the See also:cross of the See also:Legion of Honour is affixed to the stave near the point. Battle honours are embroidered on the See also:white of the tricolour.

The eagle was, in the First and Third Empires, the infantry colour, and was so called from the gilt eagle which surmounted the stave. The chasseurs d pied, like the rifles of the British army, carry no colours, but the battalion quartered for the time being at See also:

Vincennes carries a colour for the whole See also:arm in memory of the first chasseurs de Vincennes. As in other countries, colours are saluted by all armed bodies and by individual officers and men. When the drapeau is not See also:present with the regiment its See also:place is taken by an See also:ordinary flag. The colours of, the German infantry, foot See also:artillery and See also:engineers vary in See also:design with the states to which the corps belong in the first instance; thus, See also:black and white predominate in Prussian colours, red in those of See also:Wurttemberg regiments, See also:blue in Bavarian, and so on. The point of the colour stave is decorated in some cases with the See also:iron cross, in memory of the See also:War of Liberation and of the war of 1870. Each battalion of an infantry regiment has its own colour, which is carried by a non-commissioned officer, and guarded as usual by a colour party. The colour is fastened to the stave by See also:silver nails, and the ceremony of See also:driving the first See also:nail into the stake of a new colour is one of great solemnity. Rings of silver on the stave are engraved with battle honours, the names of those who have fallen in action when carrying the colour, and other commemorative names and dates. The See also:oath taken by each recruit on joining is sworn on the colour (Fahneneid). The practice in the British army of leaving the colours behind on taking the field dates from the battle of See also:Isandhlwana (22nd See also:January 1879), in which Lieutenants Melvill and Coghill lost their lives in endeavouring to See also:save the colours of the 24th regiment. In See also:savage warfare, in which the British See also:regular army is more usually engaged, it is true that no particular See also:reason can be adduced for imperilling the colours in the field.

It is questionable, however, whether this holds See also:

good in civilized warfare. Colours were carried in action by both the Russians and the See also:Japanese in the war of 1904-5, and they were supplemented on both sides by smaller flags or See also:camp colours. The conception of the colour as the See also:emblem of See also:union, the rallying-point, of the regiment has been mentioned above. Many hold that such a rallying-point is more than ever required in the See also:modern guerre de masses, when a national See also:short-service army is collected in all possible strength on the decisive battle-field, and that scarcely any risks or loss of life would be disproportionate to the advantages gained by the presence of the colours. There is further a most important See also:factor in the problem, which has only arisen in See also:recent years through modern perfection in armament. In the first stages of an attack, the colours could remain, as in the past, with the closed reserves or line of battle, and they would not be uncased and sent into the thick of the fight at all hazards until the decisive assault was being delivered. Then, it is absolutely essential, as a matter of See also:tactics, that the artillery (q.v.), which covers the assault with all the See also:power given it by modern See also:science and training, should be well informed as to the progress of the infantry. This covering fire was maintained by the Japanese until the infantry was actually in the See also:smoke of their own shrapnel. With See also:uniforms of neutral tint the need of some means whereby the artillery officers can, at 4000 yds. range, distinguish their own infantry from that of the enemy, is more pronounced than ever. The best troops are See also:apt to be unsteadied by being fired into by their own guns (e.g. at Elandslaagte), and the more powerful the See also:shell, and the more rapid and far-ranging the fire of the guns, the more necessary it becomes to prevent such accidents. A practicable See also:solution of the difficulty would be to display the colours as of old, and this course would not only have to an enhanced degree the advantages it formerly possessed, but would also provide the simplest means for ensuring the vitally necessary co-operation of infantry and artillery in the decisive assault. The See also:duty of carrying the colours was always one of special danger, and sometimes, in the old short-range battles, every officer who carried a flag was shot.

That this See also:

fate would necessarily overtake the See also:bearer under modern conditions is far from certain, and in any See also:case the few men on the enemy's See also:side who would be brave enough to shoot accurately under heavy shell fire would, however destructive to the colour party, scarcely inflict as much damage on the battalion as a whole, as a dozen or more accidental shells from the massed artillery of its own side. COLOUR-SERGEANT, a non-commissioned officer of infantry, ranking, in the British army, as the senior non-commissioned officer of each company. He is charged with many administrative duties, and usually acts as pay sergeant. A special duty of the colour-sergeants of a battalion is that of attending and guarding the colours and the officers carrying them. In some See also:foreign armies the colours are actually carried by colour-sergeants. The rank was created in the British army in 1813.

End of Article: COLOURS, MILITARY

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