Mecklenburger Line Infantry Colours
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Description
From the beginning of the 18th century until 1808, when Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined the Confederation of the Rhine, the colours followed the same basic pattern. Each regiment had a white Avancierfahne (colonel colour) and a number of light blue Retirierfahnen (regimental colours). Each colour had the great coat of arms in its centre and the crowned cipher, surrounded by laurel branches or a laurel and a palm branch, in its corners. The great coat of arms consisted of an oval shield with the arms of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, flanked by a black bull (left) and a golden griffin (right), standing on trophies on a green ground and surmounted by a golden ducal crown. The colours were painted on silk. All decorations were painted in gold.
The staff is often described as white for the Avancierfahnen and light blue for the Retirierfahnen, finial and ferrule were made of bronze.
References
Keubke, Erna und Klaus-Ulrich; Mumm, Ralf: Das Mecklenburger Militär und seine Uniformen 1701-1918. Schriften zur Geschichte Mecklenburgs, Band 15; Schwerin 2005
Voss, E. von: Beiträge zur Meklenburgischen Fahnenkunde, Jahrbücher des Vereins für Mecklenburgische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Band 45 (1880), S. 291-314
Fiebig, Ewald: Unsterbliche Treue, das Heldenlied der Fahnen und Standarten des deutschen Heeres; Andermann Verlag, Berlin, um 1936
Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin
Acknowledgements
Volker Scholz for the initial version of the article
