Field sign

Field sign

A field sign is an unofficial differencing mark worn on a combatant's clothing to show the difference between friend and foe or a combatant and a civilian.

Examples of commonly used field signs

*A tabard in the livery colors of a lord and bearing his coat of arms was a common field sign.

*A sash of colored cloth worn on the waist or over the shoulder.

*A bow of ribbon worn on the cap or hat.
**A black bow was worn by the troops of the House of Hanover.
**A white bow was worn by the House of Bourbon.
**A red bow was worn by the House of Savoy.
**An orange bow was worn by the House of Orange.

*The cockade (made originally of ribbon, cloth, or leather) is the best known type of field sign. The national and military insignia of most of the countries of Europe still use them today.

Historical examples

*Scottish clans had plant badges that they wore in battle to tell foe from ally.
*The Welsh leek badge (now believed to be a "St. Mary's Leek", or Dandelion) goes back to the middle ages. In 633 AD the Welsh were sorely pressed by the invading Saxons. They met at the Battle of Heathfield, where there was a field filled with leeks. To distinguish themselves from the enemy, the Welsh wore the leeks in their hats--and subsequently gained a great victory over their enemies. To commemorate the victory they won, the Welsh soldiers were given the right to wear a leek pinned to their caps on March 1st, the feast of their national patron saint, St. David.
*Irish Protestants and Ulster Unionists still wear the orange ribbon of the House of Orange today in their caps on July 12th "King Billy's Day". This commemorates the slaughter of James II's Jacobite troops by the forces of William, Prince of Orange.
*Giuseppe Garibaldi's followers, who became the nucleus of the irregular "Cacciatori delle alpi" corps in 1859, wore their famous red shirts when they fought the Austrians.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Field Day — is an annual amateur radio exercise, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations, encouraging emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators. In the United States, it is typically the largest single emergency… …   Wikipedia

  • Field Communications — was a division of Field Enterprises, which owned the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Daily News . The company owned independent television stations in the United States, with WFLD TV in Chicago as its largest market station.HistoryThe… …   Wikipedia

  • Field Emission Display — (FED) désigne une technique d affichage destinée aux écrans plats. Cette technique a été principalement développée par Sony jusqu en 2009 puis abandonnée au profit des OLED. Les brevets sont détenus depuis janvier 2010 par AU Optronics qui espère …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Field-theoretic simulation — A field theoretic simulation is a numerical strategy to calculate structure and physical properties of a many particle system within the framework of a statistical field theory, like e.g. a polymer field theory. A convenient possibility is to use …   Wikipedia

  • Sign (linguistics) — There are many models of the linguistic sign (see also sign (semiotics)). A classic model is the one by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. According to him, language is made up of signs and every sign has two sides: the signifier (French… …   Wikipedia

  • Sign of the Cross — For other uses, see Sign of the Cross (disambiguation). The Sign of the Cross (Latin: Signum Crucis), or crossing oneself, is a ritual hand motion made by members of many branches of Christianity, often accompanied by spoken or mental recitation… …   Wikipedia

  • Sign convention — In physics, a sign convention is a choice of the physical significance of signs (plus or minus) for a set of quantities, in a case where the choice of sign is arbitrary. Arbitrary here means that the same physical system can be correctly… …   Wikipedia

  • Field trial — A field trial is a competitive event at which hunting dogs compete against one another. Field trials are usually organized by kennel clubs or other gun dog organizations. Field trials are generally considered more competitive than hunt tests in… …   Wikipedia

  • Field equation — A field equation is an equation in a physical theory that describes how a fundamental force (or a combination of such forces) interacts with matter. The four fundamental forces are the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, the strong… …   Wikipedia

  • Field Day Theatre Company — The Field Day Theatre Company began as an artistic collaboration between playwright Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea. In 1980, the duo set out to launch a production of Friel s recently completed play, Translations . They decided to rehearse and …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”