Last modified: 2021-08-26 by 
christopher oehler
Keywords: baltics | estonia | latvia | lithuania | baltron |
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obverse
by Željko Heimer, 7 December 2003
reverse
by Željko Heimer, 7 December 2003
"The Baltic Battalion shall have its own flag, emblem and
seal"
Pascal Vagnat , 10 November 1998
Baltic Battalion as part of UNO Peacekeeping forces in BiH.
Obverse- as presented.
Reverse - UN peacekeeping flag with inscriptions BALTIC /
BATTALION on top and bottom of the UN Coat of Arms
Gvido Pētersons, 15 November 1998
The full text of the Baltic Battalion Agreementcan be found on
the website of the Lithuanian
Parliament, using the search engine at <www3.lrs.lt>.
I am copying below only the most relevant parts of the text.
A G R E E M E N T
BETWEEN
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA,
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
C O N C E R N I N G
THE BALTIC BATTALION
PREAMBLE
Following the Agreement between the Republic of Latvia, the
Republic of Estonia and the Republic of Lithuania concerning the
establishment and formation of a joint Peacekeeping Unit, signed
in Riga on 13 September, 1994, in the following referred as the
Agreement of 1994;
[...]
The Government of the Republic of Latvia, the Government of the
Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Republic of
Lithuania, in the following referred to as the Contracting
Parties, have agreed on the following principles concerning the
formation, training, application and deployment of the Baltic
Battalion:
PART I. GENERAL
ARTICLE I
1. In the following the expression "Baltic Battalion"
means the combined infantry battalion, established by the
Contracting Parties in accordance with the Agreement, eligible
for peace support operations and operations contributing to
regional stability, mandated by international organisations and
conducted in accordance with the United Nations Charter.
[..]
ARTICLE II
1. The Baltic Battalion shall have its own identity cards.
2. The Baltic Battalion shall have its own flag, emblem and seal.
[...]
5. The official language of the Baltic Battalion is English.
PART II. ORGANIZATION AND AUTHORIZATION
[...]
ARTICLE IV
1. The Contracting Parties agree to establish a combined control
mechanism in order to direct, supervise and audit the operations
of the Baltic Battalion. This mechanism shall comprise the
following:
a) Ministerial Committee (MC) consisting of Ministers of Defence
of the Contracting Parties;
b) Baltic Military Committee (BMC) consisting of the Chiefs of
Defence of the Contracting Parties;
[...]
2. The MC embodies the highest political authority over the
Baltic Battalion and shall among other things:
[...]
j) approve the form of the identification card and seal of the
Baltic Battalion.
3. The BMC embodies the highest military command authority over
the Baltic Battalion as the CHOD's will retain Full Command over
all their national personnel assigned to the Baltic Battalion.
BMC shall among other things:
[...]
b) approve the form and use of the flag and the emblem of the
Baltic Battalion;
[...]
Done in Talin on 10 December 1997 in three original copies, each
drawn up in the English, Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian
languages, all texts being equally authentic. In case of
different interpretation the English version will prevail.
FOR THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA
FOR THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA
FOR THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
Ivan Sache, 23 November 2001
According to the French Navy Album, issue 2000 [pay00] - Baltic Battalion as part of
the UN peace keeping operation in B&H. The reverse being UN
flag with inscription BALTIC BATTALION above and below the UN
elmblem (in stright line?).
According to this description (by Guido), I would assume that
this is a colour of the unit, while the national flag were
presumably hoisted in the barraks etc. (i.e. this tricolour did
not superseed the national flags).
Željko Heimer, 7 December 2003
by Željko Heimer , 7 December 2003
Yesterday, I had here three navy officers from Estonia, Latvia
& Lituania. These gentlemen had a look of approval at my
pages on their country in the "Album" (French Navy
flagbook) and told me that existed a "Baltron", Baltic
Squadron, with ships from the three countries. Each ship show her
own country ensign, plus a Baltron mark, three horizontal bands,
blue (eston) over red (latv) over yellow (litu), rect 11 / 7 with
two swallow tails. the commanding officer of this naval force
shows a distinguishing flag, triangle with the same three
horizontal bands
Armand Noel du Payrat, 10 November 1998
According to the French Navy Album, issue 2000 [pay00] - Baltic Squadron Vessels
(BALTRON) (7:11) - A swallow-tailed flag of three stripes light
blue over drak red over yellow. The construction details given in
Album are (7+7+7):(21+12), i.e. the length from hoist to the
innermost point of the swallow-tail is equal to the hoist size.
As explained, this "Baltron Mark" is hoisted on the
ships belonging to this multinational force in addition to the
appropriate national ensign (probably on the main mast?).
Željko Heimer , 7 December 2003
by Željko Heimer , 7 December 2003
According to the French Navy Album, issue 2000 [pay00] - Baltic Squadron Commander
(COMBALTRON) (7:11) - A triangular pennnat of the BALTRON mark is
used by the Commander. The colours match the colours typical for
the nationa flags, i.e. blue is the Estonian blue, red is the
Latvian red and yellow is Lithuanian yellow.
Željko Heimer , 7 December 2003
by Gvido Pētersons, 29 May 2000
In front of Baltic Defence Academy in Tartu (military
university for military education for officers from Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania with English language education and NATO(?)
support), I saw 5 flagpoles with flags of Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Baltic Assembly and BDA flag
Gvido Pētersons, 29 May 2000
According to <www.bdcol.ee>,
this is not Baltic Defence Academy but Baltic
Defence College.
Valerijus Serelis, 16 August 2006
I'we heard that by the end of WWII, Lithuanian. Latvian and
Estonian soldiers, who managed to escape to Sweeden when the
terrytories were already occupied by Soviets, formed there Baltic
Legion, to get back in to the battle, and they have created the
flag of the unit. Do you have any information about this?
Valerijus Serelis, 16 August 2006
I don't have much knowledge on this, but I do know that there
were many Baltic soldiers and civilians who fled to Sweden at the
end of the war. Many of the soldiers were forcefully deported
back to the Soviet Union, on demand from the Soviet government,
to "surrender on the last battle ground they were on".
The Swedish government believed these soldiers were to be treated
as prisoners of war by the Soviet Union and that they soon would
be repatriated, but most of them were immediately deported to
Siberia on their arrival to the Soviet occupied Baltic states.
This is something many Swedes still think is a rather embarassing
story for Sweden. See <sv.wikipedia.org>
(in Swedish).
Many of the Baltic soldiers who did remain in Sweden were
recruited by the Swedish secret service and used as agents
infiltrating their own homelands, which by then had been made
parts of the Soviet Union. (I do not know if they went by some
special name, like the Baltic Legion.) In the 1950's, this led to
good intelligence in Sweden regarding the state of political and
military forces in the Baltics, but later the Swedish groups were
infiltrated by people loyal to the Soviet regime (loyal either
for ideological reasons or because they were forced to it) and
the net of Swedish informants were broken up.
Elias Granqvist, 19 August 2006