Flagman’s world of flags

Soviet soldier in iconic photo dies

February 18th, 2010

A soldier who helped raise the red flag over the Reichstag has died reports The Times

 

A Red Army soldier who appeared in an iconic photograph of a Soviet flag flying from the ruins of Hitler’s Reichstag has died, aged 93.

Abdulkhakim Ismailov had fought all the way to Berlin from the Battle of Stalingrad three years earlier, where the destruction of the German Sixth Army turned the tide against the Nazi regime in the Second World War.

But he was only recognised half a century later as one of three soldiers raising the Hammer and Sickle flag in a picture that was staged by the Tass photographer Yevgeny Khaldei in May 1945, three days after Berlin fell to the Soviet Army.

He was decorated as a Hero of Russia in 1996 after being named as one of the soldiers standing beneath the man holding the flagpole. He died on Tuesday in his native village of Chagar-Otar in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, the regional government said.

“His enormous life experience and services to the Motherland will remain forever in the memory of today’s and tomorrow’s generations,” it said in a statement. Soldiers from a local garrison fired a military salute at the funeral yesterday after Mr Ismailov’s coffin had been carried past the village school named in his honour.

The Reichstag photograph has been compared for its historical impact to the Associated Press picture of American soldiers raising the flag of the United States at Iwo Jima in 1945. Mr Khaldei later disclosed that he had sown the flag together from three tablecloths in Moscow after being ordered to fly to Berlin to capture the Nazi defeat.

A group of Soviet soldiers had briefly raised a Hammer and Sickle over the Riechstag on April 30 but it had been brought down by German snipers before any record had been made. Mr Khaldei recruited a teenage private, Aleksei Kovalyev to hold the flag with his comrade Aleksei Goryachev and Mr Ismailov.

Mr Khaldei, who died in 1997, shot dozens of pictures of the scene with his Leica camera and later admitted that he doctored the image when he returned to Moscow to develop them. One soldier was wearing two watches and the photographer scratched one of them out of the negative to avoid allegations that he was undermining the Red Army’s heroic image by showing evidence of looting.

Mr Ismailov’s role might have been lost to history until Mr Kovalyev identified him in a television documentary in 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. He was decorated by the Kremlin the following year.

He was wounded five times, including at Stalingrad in 1942, while fighting with a motorised infantry division. He worked as the chairman of a collective farm after the war and was a Communist Party official.

His death comes as Russia prepares major celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory over Hitler. Britain and the United States have been invited to send troops to join a parade on Red Square on May 9.

Worlds most expensive flag sells for £384,000

October 21st, 2009

 

 From the Daily Mail

The only surviving Union Jack from the Battle of Trafalgar today sold for a staggering world record of £384,000 - nearly 40 times its estimate.

The huge flag, that is littered with holes from shot damage and still has a whiff of gunpowder, flew from the jackstaff of HMS Spartiate at the historic battle 204 years ago.

After the victory over Napoleon’s French army, the crew lowered the flag and presented it to Lieutenant James Clephan for his outstanding performance.

This is believed to be a world record for any such Union Jack sold before. 

It is not yet clear if the flag will remain in Britain or go abroad.

A spokesman for Charles Miller Auctions, who sold the standard, said: ‘We are hugely delighted and thrilled with the price, as are James Clephan’s family.  

The only surviving Union Jack from the Battle of Trafalgar was sold today for a record-breaking £384,000 

Riddled with bullet holes and reeking of gunpowder: The only surviving Union Jack from the Battle of Trafalgar sold for a record-breaking £384,000

‘It is way above anyone’s expectations but does reflect the historical importance of the flag and the battle it fluttered in 204 years ago today.’ 
The flag was made from 31 bunting panels by the crew of HMS Spartiate, which was the last ship in line behind Nelson’s HMS Victory as they took on the French at Trafalgar.

Spartiate was actually a French ship but was seized by the British at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

Its lieutenant was James Clephan, from Fife in Scotland. He was pressed into the navy 1794 aged 26 and excelled as a seaman.

He was made a midshipman in 1801 and rose to lieutenant later that year for distinguishing himself in the successful capture of the French ship Chevrette.

After Trafalgar he was immediately promoted to first lieutenant and by the time his career in the navy finished he was captain of his own ship.

Mr Miller said: ‘The flag is one of the most important, historical items any collector could expect to handle.

‘The damage is probably from bullet holes or splinter fragments, but despite all this it is in amazing condition.

‘You can still even detect the smell that is ingrained within it.

‘Clephan is a remarkable and charismatic survivor from the great age of Georgian sail.
‘It was an incredible achievement for someone who had been pressed to rise to Captain.’

The meaning of a flag summed up in a poem

July 17th, 2009

General Sir Edward Hanley wrote this short poem about the colours of the 43rd Regiment which he saw in a Church obviously a long time after their use.

It sums up nicely the symbolism flags employ.

A moth eaten rag on a worm eaten pole.


It does not look likely to stir a man’s soul,

‘Tis the deeds that were done ‘neath the moth-eaten rag.


When the pole was a staff, and the rag was a flag’

Union Jack 400 years old and still going strong?

June 3rd, 2009

 

The flags appears to be much more popular as a fashion item than as a flag these days.

An interesting article from the Times which suggests the flag is actually more popular with foreigners than with the UK public (despite Gordon brown’s efforts).

Here is the article:

The Union Jack: 400 years and no sign of flagging

Not even the BNP or Britain’s Got Talent have dented the Union Jack’s fashion moment

 

It is an irrefutable fact that wherever two Brits meet to lament the decline of patriotism, a Union Jack will be fluttering not far away. Granted, it may be fluttering behind the scenes on a pair of boxer shorts or a G-string. Sometimes it may not even be technically fluttering, having been stencilled on the roof of a Mini Cooper or screen printed lovingly on a condom. Alternatively, it could be dangling from the gilt chain of a handbag — Karl Lagerfeld appropriated it for Chanel’s Pariscollection 18 months ago, then Alexander McQueen produced one (along with Union Jack ankle boots, jumpers and scarves), followed by Gucci. Even the prospect of the BNP harvesting an unprecedented number of votes this week has failed, so far, to dent its popularity. 

These days, in disengaged, identitycrisised-out Britain, you’re never more than 10ft away from the national flag. Grown women stalked the Topshop website for months in anticipation of the arrival of its Union Jack jacket. Lucinda Chambers’s wall-hanging for the Rug Company is almost as ubiquitous a feature of fashionable interiors as cigarettes are in French Vogue. And, in a truly horrifying twist on this happy picture of a nation’s pride restored, the flag winked at us in the reflection from Simon Cowell’s dazzling white veneers as it bounced off the set of Britain’s Got Talent in a sort of postmodern take on the Mona Lisa. None of which can be what James I had in mind when he originally championed the splicing of the Scottish and English flags . . . which raises another scary prospect. What will happen to England’s balance of payments if Scotland finally devolves? Because, man, that flag is selling like hot cakes.

The designer Kinder Aggugini knows this — which is why, no matter where in the world he is doing business, when potential buyers visit his hotel suite to inspect his clothes, he drapes one of his huge Union Jacks over a sofa or chaise longue — and he’s Italian.

“Foreigners love the flag,” he reports. “For them it has no negative connotations the way it has for some Brits. They don’t look at it and think of colonialism and Millwall football fans. They think of Kate Moss and The Who. Italians of my generation grew up loving the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack, but at some point the Stars and Stripes became politically tainted.”

In part, Aggugini says, the Union Jack owes its success to its design: “Most flags are not very interesting but the Union Jack is brilliantly conceived. So many flags are horizontal stripes but the Union Jack comes in about 13 sections.” The military ones (as opposed to nylon ones from souvenir stands) in particular, which he has collected since he worked for Paul Smith years ago, are “so well made that you can’t even bleach them — I’ve tried”.

So cosily fashionable has the flag become that you won’t be able to move through the Debenhams homeware collection without bumping into red, white and blue china and cushions — which would be excellent news for whoever designed the flag, if anyone could remember who that was. Some historians think that the name Union Jack came from James I himself, and a cross reader who once wrote to me on this topic argued that no one should call it the Union Jack unless it is being flown at sea — on all other occasions it should be referred to as the Union Flag. Others counter that this is rubbish because in 1902 an Admiralty circular announced that both names could be used officially. So there.

Arguably the current glut of Union Jacks owes more to superficial trend-following than it does to love of queen and country, but I wouldn’t be so sure. Perhaps the British have to debunk something before they feel safe embracing it. Not so long ago, the only arms it dangled from belonged to shouty members of the National Front. And now it’s in Debenhams. See what happens when image consultants get involved? For it is another scientific fact that when consultants gather to discuss rebranding an institution, sooner or later someone will have to say, whoops. So it proved in 1997, when, at a cost of jillions, consultants advised BA to dump the Union Jack from its tail fins because it was “stuffy and institutional” (consultant-speak for associated with skinheads) and paint over it with pictures of whales skateboarding or getting jiggy . . . mere moments before Patsy Kensit and Liam got jiggy under a Union Jack duvet on the cover of Vanity Fair.

This was hardly the first time that the flag had been reinvented. The 1606 version had a makeover in 1800 when the Irish flag was incorporated (Wales, a mere principality, never got a look-in — which you’d have to say is a good thing design-wise because that dragon clashes with everything).

Then, in the 1960s, “the Union Jack became a symbol of youth culture in a semi-ironic nod to Empire,” says Oriole Cullen, curator of fashion and textiles at the V&A. “It was part of a craze for military jackets and shops such as Lord Kitchener’s Valet and Granny Takes a Trip — it was the first time since the Second World War that the flag had been shown irreverently but affectionately. Cutting up the flag into clothes had a mild shock value then — and the brilliance of the design undoubtedly played its part. With other flags you quickly lose the sense of there being a pattern but you can turn the Union Jack into anything and it remains recognisable. The other huge appeal is that there’s no copyright.”

Britain is not unique in its flag fervour (see flagpoles across the US) but it may be the only country that embraces its flag while insisting that the country itself has gone to the dogs. Yet that flag is reflective of our nation, managing to embrace the trashy (Ginger Spice in her Union Jack bandage dress — perhaps making it kitsch renders it more acceptable to us), the anarchic (the Sex Pistols) and the really quite lovely (Paul Smith’s velvet dresses).

“I never really thought about any of its connotations,” says Lucinda Chambers, the fashion director of British Vogue, which has done its share of rescuing the flag from the clutches of touristy dreck and using it to make some point about Britishness. “I just loved it, even when I was a child. The colours are so strong and the old ones are in such beautiful linens. For me it has always been about a kind of nostalgia. Really, everyone needs to give it a rest — but I can’t talk because I’ve just done another shoot with Kate Moss draped in a Union Jack for our British issue. I keep thinking that I never want to see one again but I keep pulling them out. They must represent something lasting, I suppose.”

Flags raised for patron saint

April 21st, 2009

No not St George but St Wilifred, according to the Ripon newspaper

Personally and like many people I had never heard of the good saint, but apparently he is the patron saint of Ripon.

You can find out more here http://www.wilfrid1300.org.uk/

 

 

Waterloo flags ‘tourist tat’ after all?

June 24th, 2008

From the Glasgow Herald

REGIMENTAL standards thought to have been found after the Battle of Waterloo by Sir Walter Scott have been dismissed as “tourist tat”.

The four flags - described as three French and one Scottish - were heralded as an important discovery when they were found recently in a cupboard at Abbotsford House, the author’s home near Melrose, Roxburghshire.

They were thought to be price less souvenirs taken from Waterloo by Scott in the days immediately after the 1815 battle in what is now Belgium.

But even before they take centre stage in a £10million campaign to boost falling visitor numbers at Abbotsford, critics have pointed out that one standard apparently from a French regiment has English writing on it.

Another appears to be Russian - even though the Russians were not involved at Waterloo.

Amateur historian Bob Burnett, from Edinburgh, said: “The standard purporting to be that of the French 105th regiment of the line says just that, 105th.

“Unless Napoleon was in the habit of having his military standards made up in Britain in the English language, the suffix to the numerals would have been e or eme.

“I regret that Sir Walter was, like many of us, sold the tourist tat of the day.” Another flag described as being English is now thought be Imperial Russian.

National Army Museum spokesman Julian Farrance said: “We have the eagle headpiece and the flagpole taken from the 105th regiment here in the museum in London.

“It is almost certainly impossible that the flag and the flagpole would have been separated at the time - they would have been together.

“The idea that the flag would have been left behind for Walter Scott to just pick up from the battlefield is unfathomable.

“Frenchmen would have, and did, give their lives to defend it and protect it.”

Abbotsford Trust executive manager Jacquie Wright last week described the standards as an “amazing discovery”.

Yesterday, she said: “We just don’t know what they are. We are sending photos to various people to have them authenticated but they are definitely from the right period.”

Waterloo flags found at Sir Walter Scott’s home

June 18th, 2008

and all announced on the anniversary of the battle!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/7458741.stm

 

Flags from the battlefield at Waterloo have been found in a cupboard at the home of Sir Walter Scott.

The four banners, which date from 1815, were discovered by trustees sorting through Abbotsford, Scott’s home near Melrose in Roxburghshire.

The novelist brought them from the scene of the battle, which he visited after hearing of Napoleon’s defeat.

The Abbotsford Trust, which runs the house, hopes the standards can be restored and put on public display.

Very fragile

Jacquie Wright, executive manager of the trust, said: “We were very excited to find the banners. They are very rare.

“As you can imagine, they have been lying in a cupboard since 1815 rolled up in bits of paper so the material is very fragile.

“He collected other things, which were on show because he put them on show but these things were actually put away in the cupboard.

“We would absolutely love to have them on display one day.”

She added: “It may be that one of the family knew that the banners were there but we had no idea of their existence until just recently when we unravelled them.”

Scott, author of classics such as Waverley and Ivanhoe, was interested in military history and collected many relics.

Rob Roy’s gun and Montrose’s sword are among the items on display at Abbotsford.

 

Scott was allowed on to the battlefield at Waterloo and took three French and one English banner, some of which have bullet holes through them.

Inspired by the battle, he wrote a poem The Field Of Waterloo.

Abbotsford is full of souvenirs Scott collected throughout his life and was first opened to the public in 1833, five months after his death.

It is run by the Abbotsford Trust, which must raise around £10m to fully restore the house.

The Battle of Waterloo took place in Belgium on 18 June 1815 and saw a French army of 124,000 men led by Napoleon fight the armies of six nations.

The 97,000-strong British-Dutch army was led by the Duke of Wellington and another 117,000 men were led by Field-Marshal Blucher, a Prussian.

After eight hours, the battle ended in defeat for the French.

 

 

Man who raised Soviet flag over the Reichstag dies

January 11th, 2008

 

 From Pravda

WWII veteran Mikhail Minin, a Hero of the Soviet Union, the man, who raised the USSR flag, the banner of Victory, over Germany’s Reichstag in May of 1945, died.

Minin will be buried on January 12 in his native city of Pskov where he resided until then, Interfax report.

Mikhail Minin was born in the village of Vanino in 1922. In June of 1941 he volunteered to join the army to fight against Nazi Germany. He took part in battles to liberate Leningrad from blockade and made his way across the fronts from Leningrad to Berlin.

When the Soviet army was storming Reichstag in Berlin on April 30, 1945 Minin broke into the building and became the first man to raise the Red Banner on its tower. In May of 1945 Minin was awarded the title of the Soviet Union Hero for his deed and other services in battle. The famous photo does not show Minin but a Georgian soldier. It was not taken at the actual event.

Josef Stalin had urged his troops to mount the flag on the Reichstag building no later than May 1, 1945. Minin’s superiors had told the soldiers that any piece of red cloth fixed to the building would symbolize that the battle was won.

Minin was part of a team of five soldiers who brought a red flag and tried to enter the building. They found most doors to be replaced by concrete and one door that was locked. The members of the group recalled seeing a tree limb nearby. Using the limb they managed to break the locked door by force. As they entered there was sporadic fire from German soldiers. They responded with their machine guns and managed to go up the stairs and reach the roof. Once there they decided to attach the flag to the large statue Germania over the entrance. At first they did not manage to fix the flag at a good place. Someone noticed that the person sitting on the statue was wearing a crown. They climbed the statue and managed to insert a metal pole with the flag inside the crown. They then used belts from their trousers to fix the flag at its location.

Minin was recognized for his feat, but was not really rewarded. As there were no photos taken when the flag was put on the roof on 10 p.m., other photos were taken on other occasions of which the one above has become most famous.

When the Great Patriotic War ended, Minin continued his army service. In 1959 he graduated from the Military Academy and joined special strategic purpose troops. Minin moved to Pskov in 1977 and decided to stay in the city afterwards.

This iconic image was actually doctored to hide the fact that he was wearing two watches, obvious evidence of looting.

 

You can but the Soviet flag here

Saint Edmund’s day flag

October 25th, 2007

St Edmund Flag £7.99

The 20th November is St Edmund’s day. There is a campaign by BBC Suffolk to make him the patron Saint of England again started by radio Suffolk

The flag was designed earlier this century and is sold under license.

Here is a picture of it flying over Portman Road the home of Ipswich football club

Wikipedia says this about the saint:

Edmund the Martyr (841–20 November 869) was a King of East Anglia.[1] He succeeded to the East Anglian throne in 855, while still a boy.[2] In or around 870, Edmund was defeated in battle by the Great Heathen Army, he was captured, tortured, and he died the death of a martyr.[3] He is recognised as a saint and a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Communion.

He is seen as the patron saint of kings, pandemics, the Roman Catholic diocese of East Anglia, the English county of Suffolk, torture victims, and wolves.[4][5] He was a patron saint of all England until the mid-14th century,[5] when Edward III replaced him by associating Saint George with the Order of the Garter.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_the_Martyr#External_links

You can buy the flag here price £7.99

Untitled Document

Join the flag bearer of fun & safe online gambling, 888.com, the worlds No.1 online casino. Play roulette, slot machines, blackjack and more of the best casino games in the world and enjoy a generous welcome bonus of up to $200.

 

Designed by St George