Mine or gas flag ?

[Euronymous]

Hello

I always believed those flags were used for mines. But I have just to read they were initially used for areas contamined by gas. I would like to get your opinions.

[IanC]

Definitely Gas.

See this thread with training photo's showing them in use....

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ight=mine+flag

[me6_130]

As fa as I know the yellow are for gas.

Carles

[Euronymous]

Thanks for the link. But do you think they used those flags also for mines ?

Please read that thread: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=89783

[Ed.Anderson,Jr.]

Sometime other uses. Regards,

[IanC]

Thanks for the link. But do you think they used those flags also for mines ?

Please read that thread: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=89783

I believe the primary purpose was for gas for the reasons stated in the first thread.

However there is a post war picture showing them being used in mine clearing work in the Channel Islands after the war. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a decent image of this on google.

[Euronymous]

It would be great to find a photo showing those flags used for mines by german soldiers !!! They may used them for mines but we need proofs. Photos are welcome.

[IanC]

As I say I've only seen them used for mines post war.

Here is a post war photo from Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced...Tysk_fange.png

[JGG]

My understanding of this was that originally the yellow was to denate a gas area, and white a mine area. However, as no gas was used, by 1944 they still had a pile of the yellow ones sitting around, so just allowed them to be used for mine areas. The yellow/white thing I saw in some German manual ages ago, and I had always been on the lookout for a white one with no sucess.

Of course it is interesting that the US Army used a similar yellow flag (although metal and reflective) in a canvas case to mark mined areas.

[Grossfuss]

Mine or gas flags?

Hi,

One thought that gets me going is that, apart from the point of view that if one has loads of yellow flags lying around redundant then why not use them for minefields - how come there are so many yellow flags available and very few white ones?

Without casting doubt on the German publications of the time (in which I have no doubt) isn't it odd that there are lots of yellow flags and lots of mines out there then, but throughout the war no use of gas.

Finally - a couple of photos taken from "After the Battle" "The War in the Channel Islands" showing German POW's clearing mines.

Good hunting,

Grossfuss