Wehrmacht/ Heer “Balkenkreuz” Armored Vehicle Identification Flag, Very Rare

Description

Flag – vehicle identification signal for aerial reconnaissance (Feld und Fahrzeug Erkennungsflagge) also used to indicate them when they occupied enemy trenches, measures 190 cm by 100 cm, on one side, made of two pieces of fabric, light weight, has a mixture of cotton and rayon, it has the Balkan Cross sewn by machine in an independent piece on a red flag, in the four corners it has riveted metal washers designed to hold the flag to the ground or a vehicle. The flag has no visible manufacturer’s marks, is showing age, has some small holes, the colors are still vivid. It is difficult to find this type of identification flags with the Balkan cross, they are found with swastika. Very rare as they were used very little, their use began after the campaign in France (1940), possibly during or after the invasion of Russia (1941) and was not used after mid-1944.

Note.- Although there has been much speculation by German experts as to whether or not they are vintage, it is clear that:

The Balkan Cross (Balkenkreutz) version was apparently never widely distributed until the end of the war. One suggestion was that they had been stored, and were found by Allied occupation troops and brought home as souvenirs. However, several convincing vintage photos exist showing what appear to be such Balkan Cross flags as were used on the Eastern Front during 1944, including by SS-Totenkopf units” albeit for a very short period of time, as they were soon removed because they were too visible to the enemy, and there are reports of their use during the Battle of the Bulge in 1945, both at the end of the war, it is known that most of the Allied troops collected most of their mementos by end of the war or immediately after its end (it was not wise to bring looted objects to the enemy when you could be captured by them), the extent and use of such flags is difficult to determine. Pete Loeser, text of “Historical Flags of Our Ancestors”.

We put a photo taken in January 1944 on the German Eastern Front from the book “SS Armor on the Eastern front 1943-1945” by Velimir Vuksic. Look at the flag, at the top.

Note.- You can learn more about it and its use in the book “Uniforms, Organization and History of the Panzertruppe”, R. James Bender, Publishing, San Jose CA, 1980, page 284.