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Swiss Army flags

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 January 2006

Swiss Army flags

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Swiss Army flags

According to Crampton "The Complete Guide to Flags", the Swiss army flag is "As national with gold fringe and cravat in the national colors" (p.57).
Randy Young, 11 February 2001

Concerning the colour system of Swiss army flags, like other modern armies who need fewer and fewer people today, the Swiss army has reduced its troop stocks in the recent reform which went into effect on January 1, 2004. Before, there were some sorts of troops (e.g. the infantry) which still had cantonal units. The name of the canton was written on one side of the flag, the unit designation on the other side. Additionally there was attached a cravat in cantonal colours (see T.F. Mills' notes). After the reform there aren't any more enough people from each canton to build their own cantonal units. Now there are only federal units. The unit designation is written (in fact stitched) now on both sides of the flags and the cravat has the national colours. The discarded cantonal flags are stored now in the different cantonal armouries and the federal flags in the Federal Armoury in Bern. There are proposals for a museum for the old federal flags, and maybe also for the cantonal flags. It's not long ago that I finished my army service but since I wasn't interested in flags at that time I had now to phone me through the defence ministry for some information. I thank Mrs. Sturm from the Federal Armoury in Bern who is in charge of mending and storing the army flags.
Martin Karner, 8 July 2004