Russian Fraternal Twin Flags: pt 19

Smolensk & Chelyabinsk

Flag of Smolensk

Smolensk and Chelyabinsk are flag twins. Their background colours are a similar tone. Smolensk is brownish red, while Chelyabinsk is a deep red. Another common element are their yellow stripes. Chelyabinsk has a thick solid line near the bottom, while in the same position Smolensk has a thinner double yellow line.

You can see a Napoleonic
Cannon on the flag of Smolensk

These two provinces repeat the intrinsic East-West dichotomy of Russia. Smolensk Province is a part of Europe and borders Belarus, while Chelyabinsk Province is a part of Asia and borders Kazakhstan, an Asian Country.

The essential cultural parallel deals with Russian Fire Power. It was during the Patriotic War of 1812 that Russia gave Napoleon his first taste of resistance in Smolensk, which eventually led to the famous 1812 overture that even has cannon fire written in the musical score.

Maybe the most famous tank
of WWII that helped turn the tide of the war

More than one hundred years later during the Patriotic War of 1941 Russia would again resist a great and brutal army from the west. During both wars, the fate of Russia was in peril.

World War II was the epic war of the tank. Out of this conflict was born one of the most beloved mobile armored gun units ever created - the T-34. A good majority of the T-34s were made in Chelyabinsk Province, which was subsequently given the nickname 'Tankograd.'

Coincidentally on the flag of Smolensk Province is a Napoleonic Cannon. In one way you can think of an 1812 artillery unit as being the ancestor of the tank.

Flag of Chelyabinsk

The union of these two flags unites the Fire Bird with the Bactrian Camel. Russia has a tendency to rise from the ashes like a great Phoenix. Likewise she is like the hardy camel that can survive in the harshest of environments, whether it is caused by mankind or nature.





Russia Today YouTube Links

Smolensk
www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday#p/search/19/Evq8-oveJls

Close up of Fire Bird of Smolensk

Chelyabinsk
www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday#p/search/7/SyO0y1NxnjA
www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday#p/search/3/55Tcsj70uqs

CLICK HERE FOR PART 20 (Final)