Military colours, standards and guidons


In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours, standards, flags, or guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some 5,000 years ago. The Roman Empire also made battle standards reading SPQR a part of their vast armies. It was formalized in the armies of Europe in the High Middle Ages, with standards being emblazoned with the commander's coat of arms.

General use

Military colours originally had a practical use in battle. As armies became trained and adopted set formations, each regiment's ability to keep its formation was potentially critical to its success, and therefore its entire army's success. In the chaos of battle, due to the amount of dust and smoke on a battlefield, soldiers needed to be able to determine where their regiment was.
Regimental flags are generally awarded to a regiment by a head of state during a ceremony. They were therefore treated with respect as they represented the honour and traditions of the regiment. Colours may be inscribed with the names of battles or other symbols representing former achievements.
Regiments tended to adopt "colour guards", composed of experienced or élite soldiers, to protect their colours. As a result, the capture of an enemy's standard was considered as a great feat of arms.
Standards and colours are never capriciously destroyed – when too old to use they are replaced and then laid up in museums, religious buildings and other places of significance to their regiment. However, in most modern armies, standing orders now call for the colours to be intentionally destroyed if they are ever in jeopardy of being captured by the enemy.
Due to the advent of modern weapons, and subsequent changes in tactics, colours are no longer carried into battle, but continue to be used at events of formal character.

Colours

Asia

Cambodia

In Cambodia, the Colours of the Military and other uniformed institutions follow British, US, and French practice.
Until 2022, what was essentially a large version of the Flag of Cambodia with the unit name below in white in the bottom blue stripe was used as the King's Colour of RCAF formations before being reassigned as the National Colour for parades and ceremonies. In 2023, a new Chinese-derived design but also harking to the days of the old kingdoms on Cambodian territories, debuted - it's a unified design with the insignia of the unit or formation at the center and the unit name in Khmer below but with the colors differing per service:
The People's Liberation Army is the overall body for the entire armed forces of the People's Republic of China, and is represented by a single flag, which serves as a ceremonial colour for all regiments and larger formations. This is based on the national flag, but has instead of the four smaller gold stars the Chinese characters for the numerals '8' and '1', which stand for 1 August, the day in 1927 that the PLA was founded. When paraded, the flag is fringed in gold and mounted on a red-and-gold pole.
Each branch of the PLA has its own flag, based on the Army Flag :
  • Ground Forces: identical to the Army flag, but with the lower 40% coloured green.
  • Navy: identical to the Army flag, but with the lower 40% has three blue and two white horizontal stripes of equal width.
  • Air Force: identical to the Army flag, but with the lower 40% coloured air force blue.
  • Rocket Forces: identical to the Army flag, but with the lower 40% being a gold stripe.
These, too, are not paraded publicly except with the same gold fringe as the Army flag.
Individual unit colours based on the PLA service colour would be introduced only from 2018, when mobile contingents of units of the Northern Theater Command which took part in the joint military exercise "Vostok 2018" with the Russian Armed Forces carried red colours with the unit name on the white fringe nearest the flagpole. Test battle colours had been given to the People's Armed Police some years before the practice was adopted by the PLA Ground Forces on an experimental period. During the 1 October 2019 civil military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, a mobile colour guard unit debuted after many years the garrison colours awarded to every PLA formation and agency, which are red with the formation or agency name in Mandarin Chinese in white or gold lettering, with some colours bearing additional inscriptions bearing either battle honours or decorations awarded to the formation or agency concerned.

China, Republic of (Taiwan)

The army of the Republic of China also has a single flag that it uses, which is red, with a banner of the Blue Sky with a White Sun in the centre. It has a red flagpole with silver spearhead finial and red tassels immediately underneath. Individual units use a variation of the Army Flag as their own identifying Colour; this features a white strip next to the hoist, which has the unit's name in black characters, as well as a golden fringe. The army honour guard colour is in gold with the unit coat of arms in the centre.
The Republic of China Navy's colours were red but with the seal of the Navy in a dark blue canton in the centre until the 1980s, the honour guard company's colours only use both dark blue and the Navy seal, which are the same colours used today in other ROCN units.
For the Republic of China Marine Corps, its unit battle colours, since 1960, mirrors that of the USMC but since the 1980s the unit name is on the white stripe near the hoist.
The colours used by the Republic of China Air Force are in sky blue with the air force seal in the centre.
Units of the Republic of China Military Police, formerly using a blue colour, now use a brown colour with the ROCMP arms.
Units reporting to the Ministry of National Defence sport an orange colour with the coast arms of the Ministry in the centre. Garrison colours are in blue with the Kuomintang emblem, a wheat wreath and 3 interlocked circles in yellow, red and blue respectively. Reserve units carry a red colour while the Taiwan Reserve uses a green one.
Only the following military academies sport their colours as the ROCAF colour is used by the Republic of China Air Force Academy:
In all events whenever the ROCAF is involved, the ROC flag is used as the National colour.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, the Colours of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, Indonesian National Police and other uniformed institutions are known as Panji-panji. The Panji-panji is carried and escorted by a colour guard known as "Pataka", an abbreviation from Pasukan Tanda Kehormatan in Indonesian.
National colour and service colours
During graduation and passing out parades, whenever the enlistment or commissioning pledge is taken, the flag of Indonesia is used as a national colour.
Mostly seen in parades are the service colours of the Indonesian National Armed Forces or TNI, the Indonesian National Police and the Municipal Police units. Within the TNI, service colours exist for all three service branches. Panji-panji means the military/service colours in Indonesian.
Non-military:
  • Indonesian National Police Colour: Black and the national coat of arms on the reverse
  • Municipal Police Colour: Dark blue
    Colours of commands and below
Tunggul and Pataka are terms used to identify colours below the command or service specialty level within the Armed Forces, National Police and Municipal Police. The former are for battalion/squadron level units and military territorial commands or equivalents, the latter for brigades/regiments, divisions/regional commands and service specialty and operational commands. They share a common design: the unit heraldic arms is featured in the obverse while the emblem of its reporting formation is featured in the reverse side. All colours are gold fringed and carry a Garuda finial based on the national arms.
Within the TNI, Police and Municipal Police, the speciality colours are:
The Korean People's Army is the overall body for the entire armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Until 1993 the KPA was represented by a single flag, which served as a ceremonial colour for all regiments, educational institutions and larger formations. The colour is on the basis of the national flag but with the national emblem replacing the star and on parades the colours were surrounded by gold fringe. The gold lettering in Hangul until 1961 was "For the independence of the motherland and the people" or "For the freedom and independence of the Fatherland", then replaced by "For the unification and independence of the Fatherland, and the freedom and happiness of the people".
In 1993, as part of the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of the Korean War and the 45th since the founding of the DPRK, the old colour was replaced by the designs seen for over three decades in major holiday parades. All the colours shared the same reverse with the emblem of the Workers' Party of Korea in gold and, save for the Worker-Peasant Red Guards, have identical gold letting in Hangul which states "Revolutionary armed forces of the Workers' Party of Korea, Korean People's Army / No.425 unit ", the 425 number honouring the date of the 1932 foundation of the People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army, whose lineage is continued by the current service, but with the same colours as in the obverse, which also shows the 4.25 mark in gold numbering. The Guards units also had its badge beneath the 4.25 mark. In 2023, from a meeting of the WPK Central Military Commission, a new amended design based on the 1992–93 templates was introduced for the KPA with the new motto "For the endless prosperity of the fatherland and the security of the people!" or alternatively "For our Party's Central Committee, the heart of the Revolution of Korea!", and the 4.25 mark was finally removed, with the date of the service branch or unit raising now replacing it. Guards formations retained their official emblem below the foundation date. The reverse of these colours was updated with the graphic pattern consist of a silhouette of the WPK headquarter and a red shield bearing the emblem of WPK in the middle, and additional motto "Let us defend the Party's Central Committee headed by Dear Comrade Kim Jong Un with all our lives!" at the top. These colours are in gold fringe when brought out in public parades in Pyongyang, the national capital, and during state visits by the honour guards of the Supreme Guard Command, which is an inter-service formation unlike the rest of the command whose personnel are drawn from the Ground Forces. The 1948–1961 design colours, since the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the conclusion of the Korean War in 2013, have been brought out only by guards units and KPA battalions sporting historical dress uniforms of the 1940s and early 1950s, the 1948 colours have a gold Guards Badge outline in the reverse to denote Guards status of the unit's colour while the colours only use the 1948 arms and motto instead of the current one.
  • KPA former colour until 1997: red with national emblem in gold – formerly the KPA emblem in gold, former flag did not have motto in the obverse but only in the reverse, the gold Hangul motto read "For the unification and independence of the motherland, and the freedom and happiness of the people"
  • KPA proper from 2023: red with a laurel wreath, a gold ring and a red star bearing the national emblem in gold, and the Hangul motto in gold above and below the emblem in the obverse, and name of the service in Hangul below the graphic pattern with WPK HQ, two swords and a shield bearing WPK emblem in the reverse, the gold Hangul motto on the obverse reading "For the endless prosperity of the fatherland and the security of the people!"
  • Ground Forces 1993–2023 : Colour in national flag colours but with national arms in gold – formerly the KPA emblem in gold – and gold Hangul motto "For the unification and independence of the motherland, and the freedom and happiness of the people" in the obverse
  • * Ground Forces 1993–1994 additional colour had gold Hangul motto on the top and bottom blue stripes reading "Let us defend the Party's Central Committee headed by Dear Comrade Kim Il Sung with our lives!" with the name of Kim Il Sung slightly enlarged, gold motto also used in the flags of the other branches
  • * Ground Forces 1997–2011 additional colour had gold Hangul motto on the top and bottom blue stripes reading "Let us defend the headquarters of the revolution headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong Il with our lives!" with the name of Kim Jong Il slightly enlarged, gold motto also used in the flags of the other branches
  • * Ground Forces 2012–2023 additional colour : Colour in national flag colours but with KPA emblem in gold and gold Hangul motto on the top and bottom blue stripes reading "Let us defend the Party's Central Committee headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong Un with our lives!" with the name of Kim Jong Un slightly enlarged, gold motto also used in the flags of the other branches
  • Ground Forces from 2023: Colour in national flag colours but with a baroque decorative pattern, a gold ring and a red star bearing the national emblem in gold, the gold Hangul motto on the top and bottom blue stripes reading "For the endless prosperity of the fatherland and the security of the people!"
  • Air Force 1993–2023: Emblem of KPA with wings, top large half in air force blue and small bottom half dark blue, with 6 alternating stripes, formerly gold wings and a gold star above the emblem
  • Air Force from 2023: Top small half in black and white, middle in air force sky blue and bottom in black divided by V-shaped stripes in white, pale blue, black and white, the middle also has a gold ring with five gold stars above and a gold wing below, a red star bearing the national emblem in gold, and accomplished with a silhouette of fighter jets
  • Navy 1993–2023: Emblem of KPA with gold four anchor above, bicolour of white and navy blue with 5 alternating stripes between the large stripes in the middle
  • Navy from 2023: A gold ring with above and laurel wreath below, a red star bearing the national emblem in gold, bicolour of white and navy blue with 5 alternating stripes between the large stripes in the middle and additional blue stripe in the top
  • Strategic Forces : Green with emblem of the KPA and a larger wreath above a stylized top of a globe, with light yellow stripes below the globe
  • Special Operations Forces : Dark Blue with emblem of the KPA and a larger wreath, with the Big Dipper below the 4.25 mark
  • Missile Administration: Black with two gold stripes near top and bottom and stars in dark or sky blue shades, the emblem of the Missile Administration accomplished with a baroque decorative pattern and a silhouette of missiles, the gold Hangul motto on the top and bottom sections divided by gold stripes reading "For the defense of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the security of its people!"
  • Military academies since 2023: Top large half in red, bottom small half in army green and topped by two narrow white stripes, a gold ring with a red star bearing the national emblem in gold
  • Naval academy since 2025: Bicolour of navy blue and white with 5 alternating stripes between the large stripes in the middle and a gold ring with a red star bearing the national emblem in gold in the middle
  • Air force academy since 2025: Bicolour of black and gold and divided by V-shaped stripes,
  • Revolutionary military schools until 2023: Red with KPA emblem and Hangul motto in gold lettering above and below
  • Revolutionary military schools : Top small half in red and narrow gold stripe, middle in army green with four red stripes, bottom small half in red and topped by narrow gold stripe, a gold ring with a red star bearing the national emblem in gold
  • Revolutionary military schools : Top half in red and bottom half in green, and divided by narrow stripes, superimposed by a school emblem in the middle
  • Worker-Peasant Red Guards: Red with service emblem in the centre and the Hangul motto in gold above and below the emblem in the obverse, and name of the service in Hangul below the WPK emblem in the reverse, from 1997 to 2011 the gold Hangul motto read "Let's us defend the leadership of the revolution led by the great Comrade Kim Jong Il with our lives!", from 2012 to 2023 it was "Let us defend the Party's Central Committee headed by Dear Comrade Kim Jong Un with our lives!"
  • Worker-Peasant Red Guards from 2023: Red with service emblem in the centre and the Hangul motto in gold above and below the emblem in the obverse, and name of the service in Hangul below the graphic pattern with WPK HQ, two swords and a shield bearing WPK emblem in the reverse, the gold Hangul motto read "For the endless prosperity of the fatherland and the security of the people!"