At the beginning of the war, Czech patriots living in Russia grouped into the so-called “Czech Companions” (Česká družina). Czech ladies from Moscow gave a flag to this troop consisting of several companies in a ceremony in Kyiv on 28 September 1914. The white-and-red flag with the motif of St Wenceslas crown, later supplemented by emblems of the lands, gradually became the symbol of the First Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment of “Mistr Jan Hus” and witnessed all the important events of the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia, including the battle of Zborov on 2 July 1917. After the February revolution in 1917, the pennant with the Tsar's eagle was removed and replaced by the chalice. After the return of the Czechoslovak Legion to the homeland, it continued to be used in the Czechoslovak Army until 1939, by the First Rifle Regiment of “Mistr Jan Hus” at České Budějovice.
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