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Algeria - military flags of the French epoch

al Djazair

Tirailleurs Algeriens

Image by Jorge Candeias, 15 March 1999

In Crampton '90 there are two flags depicted in the Algerian section, without any text except the caption.
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The second one is a square flag, green with red border charged with crescents in the corners of the green pannel and with the Hand of Fatima centered. This is, according to Crampton, a flag used by algerian troops in the french sevice. So perhaps the filename should relate to France? Anyway, anyone has more background on this flag? It is shown in an illustration that looks like having been made either in the end of the XIX century or in the beginning of our century, judging from the weapons and the overall style of the thing.
Jorge Candeias, 15 March 1999

This flag was definitely the standard of the Tirailleurs algerièns, also called "Turcos." These were units raised by the French authorities in Algeria from Algerians. I believe there were several regiments (perhaps three?), but I don't have my sources at hand. They fought in Algeria and (I think) in Italy in 1859 and in France in 1870-71. The flag was used during the French Second Empire (1852-1870) and perhaps after that. I don't know the source for the design.
Jamie Woods, 15 March 1999

It is not a standard as such, in the same sense as a regimental colour, but a fanion (the nearest English equivalent is perhaps battalion or company marker). It is used to mark the position of the unit, especially its commanding officer, on parade and in the field. They are only small, and were attached to a small staff which was placed in the muzzle of a rifle. The regulation sizes were 50cm x 40cm for a battalion fanion, 40 x 30 for a company fanion, and 34 x 27 for a platoon fanion (the latter can also be a triangular pennant 30 x 40). The regiments of turcos carried the regulation pattern French infantry colour as a regimental colour.

The regulations of 1857 laid down the colours:-
1st battalion of each regiment: blue sheet
2nd battalion: red sheet
3rd battalion: yellow sheet
4th battalion: green sheet

When wartime expansion created extra battalions, these used fanions in the same sequence of colours, but with a central vertical white band down the sheet.

The devices were coloured by company (note that in the French army, companies were numbered consecutively through the regiment, and not the battalion):
1st, 5th, 9th, 13th: blue
2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th: red
3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th: yellow
4th, 8th, 12th, 16th: green

So with red devices on a green sheet, this fanion belongs to the 4th Battalion, 14th Company of any of the regiments (3 until 1878, then 4; the changes in the 20th Century are just too complex to enumerate here).

The central device, the hand of Fatima, is a common device for Algerian units of the French Army. Fatima was the daughter of Mohammed - the hand represents good luck, or at least the warding off of bad luck. The hand on the fanion should be about 18cm high. In 1949, a regulation mentions that crescents pointing outwards are a sign of conquest, whereas crescents pointing inwards are a sign of surrender (I suspect that is made up nonsense - can anyone else confirm?). Both the hand and the crescent were also used as decorative finials for the fanion staff.

Fanions remained fairly simple in design like this one until the 1920s, when the extended nature of the battlefield, and new specialisations, made each battalion and company relatively more important than in the days when regiments fought in ranks shoulder-to-shoulder, and so fanions were invested with a lot more prestige than before, and the regulations were honoured more in the breach than in the observance, as extensively decorated ones became the norm. So, I think this is a relatively unimportant flag for FOTW, even though military specialists might find it interesting.

My source has been issue 55 (new series) 1980 of the journal Cahiers de la Sabretache, which is devoted to tirialleurs algeriens and tunisiens, particularly the sections on fanions and symbolism.
Ian Sumner, 16 March 1999