RUSSIAN EMPIRE

COLORS OF INFANTRY REGIMENTS  •  REGULATIONS OF 1813

In 1813 the infantry regiments and pioneer battalions  of the Russian Army began to receive colors of a new pattern. The new issue consisted of colored flags only, the white flag being definitively abolished. Guards regiments' colors had a yellow cross and variously colored corners, while the standard design for infantry regiments (as the musketeer regiments had been retitled in 1811) had a green cross with white corners. Grenadier regiments received colors with a green cross and corners in the colors of the division to which they were assigned, e.g. red/black for the 2nd Grenadier Division. The light infantry regiments (chasseurs and carabineers) received  colors with a green cross and white corners piped in red or light blue. As previously, the central tablet bore the double-headed imperial eagle. The initial colors of the 1813 pattern bore the cypher of Tsar Alexander I in the corners; those issued after 1825 bore the cypher of Tsar Nicholas I. Many of the new colors were "Colors of St. George" with regimental battle honors added. These were carried on special staffs with a finial in the form of the Cross of St. George, and an orange and black cravat—the colors of the ribbon of the medal. The 1813 pattern colors remained in service until the mid-1850s, when a new and somewhat more elaborate design was introduced. Credit: These drawings are based on images and information from Napflags, the outstanding Napoleonic flags site of Alan Pendlebury, and from VEXILLOGRAPHIA, the outstanding website devoted to the historical and current flags of Russia and related countries.