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Flags of the World

Page created: 25th October 1996 Last updated: 16th April 2016
The FAME is a site devoted to the systematic and scientific study of flags and coats of arms. Such symbols often bear strong political and other messages. Inclusion of those symbols here does not mean that the author supports or approves of the ideas they may stand for.	This site is harvested for the NSK digital archives.

Croatia - Independent State, 1941 - 1945

Nezavisna Država Hrvatska

• Civil Flag
• State Flag
• Civil Ensign
• Naval Ensign, 1941
• Naval Ensign, 1944
• Air Force Ensign
• Ethnic Germans of Croatia
• Construction Sheet

• Croatia - Independent State, 1941 - 1945 - Rank Flags and Naval Pennants, part I
• Croatia - Independent State, 1941 - 1945 - Rank Flags and Naval Pennants, part II
• Croatia - Independent State, 1941 - 1945 - Rank Flags and Naval Pennants, part III
• Croatia - Independent State, 1941 - 1945 - Rank Flags and Naval Pennants, part IV
• Croatia - Independent State, 1941 - 1945 - Military Flags
• Croatia - Independent State, 1941 - 1945 - Ustaska Mladez

Just a few days after the attack of the Axis powers on Yugoslavia on 6^th April 1941, i.e. on 10^th April 1941, the Independent State of Croatia was proclaimed in Zagreb. The power was taken by Ustaša movement lead by Ante Pavelić, who prepared his troops in the pre-war years in Italy. The State (acronym NDH, after the name in Croatian) was to be a kingdom, with the king to be Italian duke of Spoletto, but that design never came through. The NDH covered most of the territories of the current Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, some of the parts of current Vojvodina (Srijem), but had to give up of some regions to Hungary (Medjimurje and Baranja) and Italy (Istria, Rijeka, most of the islands and Dalmatian coast). With the downfall of the Axis, the NDH ceased to exist on 8^th May 1945, when Tito's partisans entered Zagreb, and the Ustaša leaders fled the country.

• Croatia - Historical Flags
• Croatia

Civil Flag

Croatian national flag, Hrvatska narodna zastava

2:3~

The Legal Decision above prescribes in article 2, paragraph 7: "Within the State, it remains in use on all places, except on the state and self-government buildings, the current Croatian national flag: red, white and blue in horizontal arrangement."

State Flag

Državna zastava

2:3 | 2:5

The state flag of the Independent State of Croatia is the Croatian tricolour with the shield of the coat of arms in the middle and the Ustasha symbol in canton. The shield is composed of twenty-five white and red cheques, and the Ustasha symbol is a blue letter U within a red triple wattle. There are two officially determined flag ratios. The state coat of arms is the chequy shield, starting with the argent cheque, topped with the U in the wattle symbol.

Civil Ensign

Merchant Flag, Trgovačka zastava

2:3

The merchant ensign is equal to the state flag, but omitting the shield in the middle. According to the movies from the period, it seems that the civil vessels used unofficially the simple undefaced tricolour (i.e. the "Croatian national flag" as called by the Legal Decision of 1941).
Note: In the collection of Dr. O. Neubecker there is a whole list of flags of the Independent State of Croatia dated in year 1944, probably prepared for the next update of the Kriegsmarine's "Flaggenbuch". These flags certainly origin from Croatia, but their source and status are not confirmed. One assumption is that these are proposals that were never actually adopted. All flags shown here with adoption date 1944 are not confirmed by any other independent source.

Naval Ensign, 1941

Flag of the Navy, Zastava ratne mornarice

2:3

The naval ensign is armorial banner of Croatia - twenty-five white and red cheques. That flag is used on naval vessels stern and on all offices and unit of the Navy.
In the sources for 1944 flags this flag is marked as prednja ratna zastava (forward war flag i.e. the jack), and it is possible that it was used as such until May 1945.

Naval Ensign, 1944

Main war flag, Glavna ratna zastava

2:3

The naval ensign of year 1944 is the Croatian tricolour with the state coat of arms offset towards the hoist (the axis is on 7/18 of the flag length, height is 1/2 flag width). The naval flags often use emblems offset to hoist to ensure its better visibility when the flag is fluttering in wind, and to gain effect of visual symmetry.
According to the source, together with this flag was used the jack equal to the earlier naval ensign.

Air Force Ensign

Air Force Flag, Zastava Zračnih Snaga NDH, Military Air ForceFlag, Zastava bojnog zrakoplovstva

32:47

The Air Force Ensign is "hoisted on the Air Force Command and on all airports from sunrise to sundown" according to 1941 decision. It is "used on all airfields, offices and buildings of the military air force" according to 1943 decision that equalises the status of this flag with the flag of the Navy.
Both decisions prescribe military aircraft markings - the Croatian coat of arms of 25 white and red cheques, while 1943 decision also prescribes the nationality marking for non-military aircrafts. That marking has the same layout as the Air Force Ensign, but omitting the eagle in canton.
The width of the blue border is 1/32 of the flag width, while the white and red cheques are 6x9 of the blue border width, resulting in total flag ratio 32:47. The eagle symbol is described in the decision as "black outlined and shaded symbol of an eagle in flight".

Ethnic Germans of Croatia

Volksdeutsche

2:3~

The flag of the German community in Croatia is based on the Nazi flag, where the swastika is replaced by so called Odal rune of the Ancient German script.

Construction Sheet

of the state flag of NDH

2:3 | 2:5

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Flags of the World