UNIFORMS AND INSIGNIA OF THE CENTRAL AFRICAN EMPIRE

5. Colours and standards

On this page I try to do what I can with the various colours, standards, fanions, etc., seen in the source material. I lack a nice flat dead-on view of any of these, so inevitably these illustrations will vary somewhat from the dimensions of the actual items. I’ve tried to get the lettering generally close, and correctly aligned vertically, but the letter forms will inevitably not be exact, and the kerning definitely isn’t. The wreaths should be drawn accurately.

Imperial standard of Bokassa I. Illustrated is the example carried at the coronation. Dark brown staff with gold ring and spearpoint finial. Note that the central device is much smaller than the rendition shown on Wikipedia etc. In other appearances (the flag on Bokassa’s car, the standard’s use as banners, decoration, etc.) the device is larger.

Army headquarters(?). As illustrated. Barely legible from the unfortunate angle it’s recorded at. I think this is the “headquarters” colour, perhaps. The two letters in the corner wreaths seem to be “QG”, and I would very tentatively reconstruct the obverse legend as “[illegible] / [illegible] / QUARTIER / GÉNÉRAL / BOKASSA”. Obvious guess for the missing lines “REPUBLIQUE CENTRAFRICAINE” or “EMPIRE CENTRAFRICAIN”. Reverse legend unknown. Two streamers as illustrated. Dark brown staff with gold ring, finial unseen.

The Spahis. The national flag, square. No corner wreaths. Obverse legend illegible. Reverse legend three lines – the bottom seems to be “FIDÉLITÉ”. Streamers in the national colours, with any devices illegible. Dark staff, gold or silver ring and spearpoint finial.

This unit also had a fanion (I think, a true fanion positioned in a gun barrel) but the details are wholly illegible.

1st Infantry Battalion. As illustrated. Very hard to see in the footage. The legend is reconstructed: I can make out “[nothing] / C… / 1er BA… / D’… FA…” in the footage. Of course, if I’m misreading this, it’s the flag of a different unit. I can’t tell what’s in the corner wreaths. Streamers of some sort, but the details are unclear – the same as the example immediately below, so far as I can tell.  Dark staff with gold ring, unclear finial.

1st Infantry Battalion (older). As illustrated. I have a decent view of the obverse and reverse, from separate contexts. I can’t guarantee they pair together but from the context I think they must do — the reverse is being carried by infantry men. Dark staff with ring, finial unseen. A streamer, seemingly in the pattern of the “I. B. T. / R. A. C.” colour (see below), but I lack a clear enough view to comment.

Curious to consider what happened to this colour — if I’ve correctly identified the colour directly above as that of the 1st Infantry Battalion (as I believe I have) then this colour must be an older colour which was replaced for some reason or other. It can’t have been lost in battle, or anything interesting like that — perhaps simply the awkward arrangement of the text was considered undesirable. This colour is definitely the earlier of the two: I’ve seen it in a photo of the first Dacko period, and its last appearance is in 1968 footage. The colour above I’ve seen once, in 1975 footage.

By way of pointless digression, the photo showing the obverse gave me real trouble. I forgot to save it and then, trying to find it again, misremembered that I’d found it in the depths of a Centrafrican Facebook group. Cue much fruitless stumbling through those. It turned up again, elsewhere, eventually.

“2nd Battalion.” As illustrated. This was somewhat rectangular – the proportions shown here are a guess. The text in the bottom quadrant is illegible. No streamers so far as I can see, but there is a photo of an officer holding what looks like a streamer for a colour (within the coronation stadium, so presumably for this colour), as illustrated. Dark staff with gold ring and spearpoint(?) finial.

See the introductory remarks to part 1 for some thoughts on what unit this colour belonged to.

Another colour. As illustrated. The obverse and the soldier carrying the colour can’t be seen, so I can’t even attempt to attribute this. Black-and-white photo. The “I. B. T. / R. A. C.” legend in the corner wreaths is more or less clearly visible, but I unfortunately have no idea what it means. There was apparently a “1er Bataillon des Transmissions” in the Centrafrican army — I know nothing about it except that it supposedly existed, under that title. Perhaps this is theirs, then? “Republic Centrafricaine”, obviously, for the bottom line. If the wreaths read “I. B. I.” a natural enlargement would be “1er Bataillon d’Infanterie” (making it the reverse of that unit’s colour) but the last letter really looks like a “T”. The photo is from 1975 so it can’t be “Imperator Bokassa” or whatever. Dark staff with gold (presumably) ring and spearpoint(?) finial.

Another colour. As shown above. Carried by a man with red army beret and army badge. Some sort of silver device, not a wreath, visible in the corner. The fringe seems to be gold.

The female unit. This unit seems to have had a small fanion, but the details, beyond that it was based on the national flag, and had streamers, are unclear.

The military school. As above.

2nd Gendarmerie Legion. As illustrated. The slight misalignment of the text vis-à-vis the horizontal stripes is per the original. The streamers are of unclear design – my best interpretation is a single extra-wide item as indicated. Black or dark brown staff with gold spearpoint and ring.

Another gendarmerie colour. As above. This was evidently rectangular instead of square, although the date of the footage (1974) precludes it from being part of the same batch as the rectangular “II. Bataillon” colour above.

Gendarmerie motorcycle fanion. As above. This is seen only once, unlike the paired Centrafrican and French flags seen on the front of every motorcycle in this footage.

An earlier gendarmerie colour. From undated footage I’d place in the later 1960s (so somewhat earlier than the period covered here, but noted for completeness). Seemingly just the national flag, rectangular, with no text or additional devices.

A police colour. As above.

Green Mounted Honour Guard standard. As seen. The arrangement here isn’t readily comprehensible. For the red bar to have what looks like a yellow triangle below it, it must cross the field, not vertically as per the national flag etc., but diagonally(?) The yellow lines on the red bar I assume are text.

A MESAN flag. As seen. These seem to have varied considerably in their fine details, but this was the basic idea.

A veterans’ organisation. As illustrated. The lettering is this blocky in the original, I should note. Brown staff, gold ring and spearpoint, no streamers.