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Flags in the Military History Museum (Viet Nam)

Bảo tàng Lịch sử Quân sự Việt Nam

Overview
Historical Vietnamese Flags

Battle of Bach Dang River in 938
Ly Army
Horse and Boat Flags = Bach Dang River
Van Kiep Battle in 1285
Lang Son Province battle in 1427
Lang Son Province battle

Historical Chinese Flags

Song 宋 Dynasty
Mongol Yuan Warship
Ming Flag

First Indochina War Flags (1946-1954)
Second Indochina War Flags (1955-1975)

See also:

External links:

Official museum website (in Vietnamese)

Overview

I visited War Historical Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on 31 July 2008 and took some photos of historical flags.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 11 August 2008

This covers the flags located at the Bảo tàng Lịch sử Quân sự Việt Nam (Viet Nam Military History Museum) located in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Viet Nam. This claim is supported on the 360º virtual tour website of the museum, where they show the same tank (No. 843) mentioned before and also since it is the only national museum covering military history. Also, judging by the objects and artifacts dsiplayed in the Museum's collection that date centuries ago, one can made the assumption that the historical flags were indeed found in this Museum. Thus, the claim by Nozomi Kariyasu in his 11 August 2008 post where he mentioned that this museum is located in Ho Chi Minh city is disputable (maybe he made an honest mistake) since the Museum is located in Hanoi.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Source: Wikipedia article

Historical Vietnamese Flags

Battle of Bach Dang River in 938

image by Eugene Ipavec, 11 August 2008

Ly Army

image by Eugene Ipavec, 11 August 2008

Used by the defensive line on the Cau Riverside, Bac Ninh Province. The army and people with the leadership of Ly Thuong Kiet counter-attacked the Song aggressors and obliged them to withdraw in 1077.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 11 August 2008

Horse and Boat Flags – Bach Dang River

image by Eugene Ipavec, 13 August 2008

image by Eugene Ipavec, 13 August 2008

Flags used on boats and horses in the 13th Century.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 11 August 2008

Van Kiep Battle in 1285

image by Eugene Ipavec, 16 August 2008

Fought in the Hai Duong Province; the 2nd Yuan (China-Mongol) aggressors were totally defeated by Tram Army.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 11 August 2008

Lang Son Province battle in 1427

image by Eugene Ipavec, 19 August 2008

Lang Son Province battle

image by Eugene Ipavec, 19 August 2008

Lang Son Province battle in 1427 Lam Son insurgents began a campaign to annihilate 100,000 Ming Dynasty (China) aggressors.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 11 August 2008

Historical Chinese Flags

Song 宋 Dynasty

image by Eugene Ipavec, 11 August 2008

Mongol Yuan Warship

image by Eugene Ipavec, 13 August 2008

Ming Flag

image by Eugene Ipavec, 16 August 2008

First Indochina War Flags (1946-1954)

In this online 360º virtual tour more specifically "Kháng chiến chống Pháp" (Anti-French Resistance War, or more commonly First Indochina War, Chiến tranh Đông Dương in Vietnamese) of the Viet Nam Military History Museum (Bảo tàng Lịch sử Quân sự Việt Nam) commemorating the 70th anniversary of the start of the war (1946-2015) one can see several flags as well.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

[Flag from Vietnamese Military History Museum]

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Ba Tơ (District) guerrilla flag, Viet Minh Unit flag.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Source: http://www.loeser.us/flags/cold.html#vietnam

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Variant of the Viet Minh flag with the orientation of the star in a different possition than the traditional one (in this flag the star points to the hoist).
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Source: http://www.loeser.us/flags/cold.html#vietnam

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Flag with inscription Mở đường thắng lợi ("Towards victory," in English). This is the motto of the present day Binh chủng Công binh (abbreviated "Công binh") (Public Relations Unit, dependent directly on the Quốc phòng Việt Nam, Viet Nam Ministry of Defence). This flag was presented in 1952 by Hồ Chí Minh after the successful campaign of that year during the war. It is the flag of the Department of Specialized Public Works, dependent on the Viet Nam Ministry of Defense, established on March 25, 1946, predecessor of the Public Relations Unit.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Sources: https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binh_ch%E1%BB%A7ng_C%C3%B4ng_binh,_Qu%C3%A2n_%C4%91%E1%BB%99i_Nh%C3%A2n_d%C3%A2n_Vi%E1%BB%87t_Nam, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Indochina_War#1952, and http://baotintuc.vn/quan-su/phat-huy-truyen-thong-mo-duong-thang-loi-20160324233818452.htm

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Banner featuring four rows with inscriptions in Vietnamese, as follows:

	Vietnamese Inscription	English Translation
Row 1	Tặng	Awarded to
Row 2	Truờng Võ bị Trần Quốc Tuấn	Tran Quoc Tuan Military School
Row 3	Trung với nước, hiếu với dân	Loyalty to the County, Together with the Local Population
Row 4	Hồ Chí Minh's signature

It was granted by Hồ Chí Minh during a visit to the Trường Võ bị Trần Quốc Tuấn ("Tran Quoc Tuan Military School" in English), also known as Trường Si quan Lục quân 1 (Infantry Officers (Military) School No. 1) on 25 May 1946, then known as Trường Quân chính kháng Nhật, Trường Võ bị Trần Quốc Tuấn (Army against the Japanese School Quoc Tuan Tran Military School).
(official websites: http://www.sqlq1.edu.vn/ and http://www.daihoctranquoctuan.vn/)

This banner is also seen at https://vietnamesecommunity.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/co-trung-voi-nuoc-hieu-voi-dan.jpg?w=812.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Sources: http://sqlq1.edu.vn/Portal/BT185-gap_mat_khoa_1_truong_vo_bi_tran_quoc_tuan.html and https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Dng_%C4%90%E1%BA%A1i_h%E1%BB%8Dc_Tr%E1%BA%A7n_Qu%E1%BB%91c_Tu%E1%BA%A5n

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Pennant with illegible inscription in Vietnamese.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Second Indochina War Flags (1955-1975)

Unknown flags in Vietnam Military History Museum

image located by Esteban Rivera, 6 June 2011

image located by Esteban Rivera, 6 June 2011

Using the software Google Earth, there's an application called "360º Cities" (http://www.360cities.net). I found this picture, by a user (Thang Bui) showing several flags inside the Vietnam Military History Museum.

These flags are seen inside what appears to be the main hall of the first floor of the Viet Nam Military History Museum (in Vietnamese: Bảo tàng Lịch sử Quân sự Việt Nam) in Hanoi, to be more precise, next to the exhibit of a Tank T-54B No. 843 (although it is now disputed whether the actual tank in display is a T-54/55, as seen in this forum that provides additional pictures of the entrance of a T-54 tank into the Presidential Palace on 30 April 1975 ending the Second Indochina War, or most commonly known as the Vietnam War: http://planetarmor.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6272).

If one faces the tank, that is, the gun pointing towards oneself, then on the left there's a row of 11 flags, most of them (if not all) of Vietnamese origin, including the Viet Cong (National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam) flag, etc. On the base of each flag is a plaque probably describing the flag displayed.

On the right one can see five flags, probably captured flags (one can see the US flag fifth, from left to right, and also what seems to be a Viet Quoc with an inscription, third flag from left to right).
Esteban Rivera, 6 June 2011

In this online 360º virtual tour more specifically "Kháng chiến chống Mỹ" (Anti-American Resistance War) of the Viet Nam Military History Museum (Bảo tàng Lịch sử Quân sự Việt Nam) commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the war (1975-2015) one can see several flags:

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Flag with Vietnamese inscriotion: "THI ÐUA XÂY DUNG LUC LUONG / BẢO-VỆ HÒA-BÌNH," something like "Resistance building forces / Secutiry Forces Hoa Binh" (perhaps a Military Engineer National Liberation Front (Việt cộng) Unit or Branch). Notice that even though the Second Indochina War (or Vietnam War) had been taking place, this flag displays the star of the People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam (also known as Liberation Army of South Vietnam), the official army of National Liberation Front of South Viet Nam (NLFSV) (Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam, in Vietnamese) in a manner pretty much like the Viet Minh.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Source: http://www.loeser.us/flags/cold.html#vietnam

images located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Flag inside exhibit titled as "Đánh bại chiến tranh phá hoại lần thứ 2 của mỹ ở miền bắc năm" (translated by the Museum as "Defeat the 2nd Destructive War of U.S. Army in the North of Vietnam in 1972) (probably a flag used during the military campaign of 1972, Easter Offensive (Chiến dịch Xuân hè 1972).
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Offensive

images located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Flag inside exhibit titled as "Đế quốc mỹ lắm súng nhiều tiền, dù chúng có B52, B57 hay B gì chăng nữa ta cũng đánh đã đánh là nhất định thắng" (something like "Although the US imperialists have guns too expensive, whether they are B57 (Canberra bombers), B52 (Stratofortress bombers) or 'Concrete,' we've also fought them. All these planes, but also many more American troops have also been hit, which was rated as certain victory"). This was a phrase from a speech by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 July 1965 when he visited Regiment No. 324 of the Air Force in Tam Dao.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Source: https://vn.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20121121003341AAix5Ef

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016

Flag featuring eight rows with inscriptions in Vietnamese, as follows:

	Vietnamese Inscription	English Translation
Row 1	CÒ THƯỞNG	Reward
Row 2	QUYẾT TÂM ĐÁNH THẮNG GIẶC MỸ XÂM LƯỢC	Determined to Defeat the American Invaders
Row 3	CỦA BÁC HỒ	Uncle Ho (referring to Hồ Chí Minh)
Row 4	DÂN QUÂN XÃ TIÊN CHÂU HUYỆN YÊN LANG TỈNH VĨNH PHÚ	Tiên Châu Commune Militia, Yên Lang District, Vinh Phu Province (currently Yên Lang is Mê Linh, a District of Hà Nội)
Row 5	ĐÃ BẮN RƠI CHIẾC MÁY BAY MỸ THŨ 4000	Downed the 4000th US Airplane
Row 6	NGÀY 17 THÁNG 10 NĂM 1972	17 October 1972
Row 7	MU TỊCH TÔN ĐỨC THẮNG	From President Tôn Đức Thắng
Row 8	TANG	Donated

This award flag is supposedly awarded for actions during the Easter Offensive by shooting down the 4,000th US airplane.
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Sources: http://www.bqllang.gov.vn/tin-tuc/tin-tong-hop/913-may-bay-roi-tren-nh-ng-con-tem.html and https://temviet.com/forum/index.php?threads/th%C3%B4ng-tin-gi%E1%BB%AFa-s%E1%BB%B1-ki%E1%BB%87n-m%C3%A1y-bay-m%E1%BB%B9-b%E1%BB%8B-b%E1%BA%AFn-r%C6%A1i-v%C3%A0-c%C3%A1c-m%E1%BA%ABu-tem-ph.824/

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016
Source: http://www.bqllang.gov.vn/tin-tuc/tin-tong-hop/912-da-danh-la-nh-t-d-nh-th-ng.html

Flag with illegible inscription in Vietnamese (most likely an award flag). It was very common for units to be awarded such flags, as this picture shows. The picture caption reads: Các đồng chí lãnh đạo Đảng, Nhà nước và Quân đội trao cờ cho các đợn vị lp công xuất sắc trong Chiến dịch "Điện Biên Phủ trên không" cuối năm 1972 ("The (Communist) Party leaders, State and Army flags awarded to meritorious Units in the campaign 'Dien Bien Phu in the Air'" in English, as reference to the "Hà Nội - Điộn Biên phủ trên không" during the Easter Offensive and Operation LINEBACKER).
Esteban Rivera, 23 April 2016