Army Combat Units (Portugal)

Last modified: 2015-02-14 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: brigada mecanizada independente | coat of arms (escutcheons) | escutcheons: 5 | paratroopers | golf | mullets: 4 | mullet (golden) | spearhead | sword | rifle | parachute | hunter parachutist battalion | engineers(3rd) | engin |
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• Brigada Mecanizada Independente
• B.M.I.’s Golf Group
• Hunter Parachutist Battalion
• 13th Infantry Regiment
• 3rd Engineers
• 6th Engineers

• Military flags of Portugal
• Portugal

Brigada Mecanizada Independente
(Independent Mechanized Brigade)

Description: Shield of silver, five ancient inescutcheons of blue, disposed in cross, those in the flanks facing the center, each charged with eleven silver bezants, 3, 2, 3, 2, 1; diminished and battled border of blue.

Symbology:

• The silver in the field aludes to the knowledge that this Great Unit provides, as Inter-Arms School of the Army, just as happened with the Division Nun’Álvares, its predecessor.
• The ancient inescutcheons, arms of Portugal before El-Rey D. Afonso III, give alusion to the contribution of the Brigade in its mission in the defense of the national territory.
• The diminished border characterizes a Territorial Command and is battled as a difference from the Independent Territorial Commands of the Authonomous Regions; Its colour is that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Jorge Candeias, 16 Dec 2003,
translating from the Portuguese Army site

Coat of arms

B.M.I.’s Golf Group
Agrupamento Golf da Brigada Motorizada Independente

This group has a very heraldic coat of arms, whose shield is black with four 8-pointed hollowed mullets disposed vertically, sided by two silver swords. The crest includes the shield of the BMI.
Jorge Candeias, 15 Dec 2003

Coat of arms

Hunter Parachutist Battalion

First guidon (guião) of this battalion (no dates mentioned, but the battalion came to existence in 1922), the Hunter Parachutist Battalion. The motto "QUE NUNCA POR VENCIDOS SE CONHEÇAM" means "May they never be known as loosers".
João Madureira, 08 Jun 1998

• Private webpage about Batalhão de Caçadores Paraquedistas (also avaliable in english)
  reported by João Madureira, 08 Jun 1998

13th Infantry Regiment
Regimento de Infantaria no. 13

This is the flag of 13th Infantry Regiment of the Portuguese army, garrisoned in Vila Real, a banner of arms of the corresponding coat of arms, which was created by the heraldic cabinat of the army. It is blue semy of silver (i.e. white) 6-point stars between two snow covered mountains in base. Over all is a forearm in golden armour holding a baton raguly of the same.
Not on the flag but in the arms is the war cry "Aleo"", referring to Dom Pedro de Meneses, first governor of Ceuta and first Count of Vila Real. Its the same with the V-shaped cutting and the baton. The design was made by José Estevéns Colaço. (translated by Klaus-Michael Schneider)
António Martins-Tuválkin, 4 Oct 2007

3rd Engineers

The Portuguese Army will send soon to Lebanon its newly created Engeneers Unit nº3 (UnEng3/FND/UNIFIL), as a part of the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission. Its arms (and Banner of Arms) were created by the Army Heraldry Office (memo n.º 905, proc. 254.09, of 2007.09.27), designed by Lt.Col. Pedroso da Silva and drawn by Master José Estevéns Colaço. The unit colour is, as usual, a full banner of the arms, which are Sable a Lebanon cedar Argent between three bees Or ordered 2:1.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 18 Oct 2007

6th Engineers

On 23 January 2009, the Portuguese Army Chief of Staff approved the arms (and, implicitly, the guidon) of the newly created Portuguese Army Engeneering Unit no.6 (Unidade de Engenharia N.º 6: UnEng6/FND/UNIFIL), raised to serve in the Portuguese contingent in UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon), from July to December 2009.
The guidon is per regulation a square banner of the arms, which are Sable a honeycomb of six cells Or voided Sable set three and two and one each containing a cedar Or. (The rest of the CoA, motto and crest is also interesting, although unaltered to flags.) This design was authored, as usual, by Lt.-Col. Pedroso da Silva, of the army's Heraldry Bureau. Its symbolics refer to the labour skills of bees and to the host territory.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 5 Mar 2010

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