Captured Soviet Advisor Flag to the North Vietnamese

[drac2k]

Well ,that is what the tag says .It certainly has age, looks field made, wool(with moth holes ), on cotton and an old yellowed tag that tells the story. Maybe I should have put it in the category "Is it Real," or somewhere else, so if the Moderators need to move it, I'm sorry I put it in the wrong place (I'm still a little new to this forum).

[manayunkman]

Usually the drill is to have direct veteran provenance to post it on Spoils of War or post it on the WMF forum  which doesn’t require any provenance and caters to foreign militaria.

 

Interesting flag, where did you find it?

 

Reminds me of a Soviet Navy flag.

[USCapturephotos]

Interesting piece. I’ll be interested  to hear what others have to say.

Paul

[manayunkman]

It has US paratrooper hardware on it.

[drac2k]

I found it at a local gun show ;it walked in. The guy who had it said  that he got it at an auction.

I thought about naval as well because the flag couplings appear to be zinc coated, corrosion resistant.

[digi-shots]

I thought it might be Navy also.  Russian Army is usually red background with yellow star and hammer/sickle, whereas Russian Navy is white background with red star and hammer/sickle, usually with a blue lower border/stripe.

 

I like it whatever it is… 

 

I’m sure you looked, but is there anything on the back of the card?

 

 

[drac2k]

Thanks for the information. Funny, but I didn't think to look, lol. Here is a picture.

[manayunkman]

14 hours ago, drac2k said:

I found it at a local gun show ;it walked in. The guy who had it said  that he got it at an auction.

I thought about naval as well because the flag couplings appear to be zinc coated, corrosion resistant.

Those zinc couplings are are US made and came off a parachute harness.

[drac2k]

Well that is interesting; can you guess as to the vintage of the couplings? Since this was supposedly captured in 1966 and there had been a large US presence in Vietnam since 1961 the couplings could have walked off an American base or been salvaged off of a parachute drop, especially given the homemade look of the banner. Maybe it was captured and hung in a US Officers Ward Room as a trophy ( using US couplings), or maybe it was someone's pet project, having nothing to do with Soviets or North Vietnamese...................all of the preceding possibilities being  equally probable.

[manayunkman]

Is the flag made of 2 pieces sewn back to back or is it one piece folded in half?

[drac2k]

It is hard to tell; it is definitely  2 pieces. I think that they sew them together and looped them around where the lanyard is; still it could be one piece folded over.

[Dave T]

Enjoy the Flag/banner for what it is.Could date from the 60s to the 80s. If you want to pin down the vintage or perhaps decade it was produced try contacting these guys:

https://www.collectrussia.com/showallcats.htm

They may be able to put an era/vintage to that style of flag/banner. As for the story that it was captured from Soviet advisors to the North Vietnamese during the war...well without rock solid provenance and a photo taken at point & time of capture, i would take that story with a grain of salt.

[drac2k]

Thanks,

Great advice on both counts.